Master of the Arts
by regisklandegre
Summary: After Naruto and Sakura lose their best friend, they go to extreme measures to get him back. Shikamaru tries too hard to reach into Neji's past and ends up uncovering secrets about himself along the way. Remember kids, everything is connected and it all leads back to the man who started it all. This is a journey for everyone to bring back the people they love.
1. The First and the Last Chapter

Uchiha Sasuke was 19 years old.

Uchiha Sasuke was 19 years old and here he stood, katana in hand, before Konoha academy.

He was resolute.

He knew what his mission was.

He was going to make them pay- make EVERYONE pay for what they had done.

He was going to make them pay for what happened to his family.

He clenched his katana and closed his eyes.

He was going to make them pay for what they had done to his brother.

He grit his teeth and opened his eyes, sharingan ablaze.

He was going to make them pay for what they were _going_ to do to Naruto.

 _His_ Naruto.

And where better to start than the place that started it all?

* * *

But how did it start?

How did Sasuke end up where he was? And why?

I guess we'll have to take a trip down memory lane to the place that started it all…

Konoha Academy.

Buckle up kiddos, this is gonna be a rocky ride.


	2. First Day

**Master of the Arts**

 **Arc 1** : Settling In Part 1

 **Chapter 2: First Day**

 **Summary:** After Naruto and Sakura lose their best friend, they go to extreme measures to get him back. Shikamaru tries too hard to reach into Neji's past and ends up uncovering secrets about himself along the way. Remember kids, everything is connected and it all leads back to the man who started it all. This is a journey for everyone to bring back the people they love.

These chapters will probably be anywhere from short to long and I'll probably update whenever I have a chance but don't worry. I won't leave ya hanging, kiddos.

Just a slight forewarning, there will be angst. And lots of it, probably. Not in this chapter but in the future, obviously. Just thought I'd let ya cuties know.

* * *

"Sakura-chan Sakura-chan!" an airy voice shouted.

Sakura sighed and looked over her shoulder and saw a blob of blonde bouncing up and down. Her best friend (at least that was what Naruto thought) was walking…? No. Practically _dancing_ his way over.

" _What,_ Naruto?" She asked, really not looking forward to whatever idiocy he had to say.

"Aren't cha excited for the first day of class? I know I am!" He said while putting his arm over her shoulder, holding her close. "Gee," she said after roughly pushing his arm off, "I had absolutely no idea that you were looking forward for the first day of uni! Definitely not after all of those times you've called me and talked on and on for hours-nonstop-about how excited you were! Really, I am shocked!" Sakura placed her hand over her chest feigning exasperation.

Naruto pouted and crossed his arms, and Sakura couldn't help the small giggle that left her lips. "Lighten up, Naruto," she laughed. She glanced around and saw a student walking their cat (are cats allowed on campus?). "I was just," she pointed to the cat, "kitten around!" She chuckled at her own joke as Naruto stared at her, completely embarrassed by the horrible pun she just made.. or _attempted_ to make. "You know what, Sakura?"

"Hmn?"

"I'm just gonna go…"

Before Sakura could say anything, Naruto ran off, hoping to shake off the extreme embarrassment.

I'm sure you're all well aware, but it just needs to be stated again.

Naruto was 18 years old and frickin' excited about his first day of school. It was where his parents had gone to become two of the most amazing fighters of all time. Seriously, they were already in history books. It was Naruto's dream to follow in his parent's footsteps. And where better to start than the place where his parents had become famous? Naruto had been looking forward to going to this school since the day he could walk, literally. (Naruto sincerely believed that his first words where Konoha Academy.)

Konoha Academy was no doubt the most prestigious school of the Land of Fire. There was absolutely no way his day could go wrong.

So when Naruto walked into his huge dorm room, he was not expecting what awaited him there.

"Hey, dobe." It was at this moment that Naruto had lost his cool.

"S-Sasuke...?" Naruto was astonished. His eyes widened and mouth agape, Naruto could not believe what he was seeing. Naruto was about to contest when Sasuke said, "Don't even try going to the Headmaster on this one. I tried. She broke her desk and refuses to speak to me about this anymore."

Sasuke smirked, reveling in the myriad of emotions playing out on his new roommates face. The raven got up and stood side by side with the blondie. "I hope you're ready to have a great year, dobe, because I know I am."

 _Oh yes_ , Sasuke thought, _I am ready for a whole year of tormenting my new roommate._

He chuckled and let himself out of the room.

 _Oh no_ , Naruto thought to himself, _I am not ready for a whole year of tormenting from my worst rival._

* * *

Naruto was 18 years old and today was his first day of college.

He had expected it to go smoothly. But _no_ of course not. Uzumaki Naruto? Have a great day?

That was practically unheard of.

His parents had died the day he was born so he really didn't know much about them.

They had left everything in their will to him so he basically had plenty of money to get by, a huge house, and servants at his disposal. Many people were jealous of him, in fact, so jealous that he had almost been killed more than once. Imagine what people could do with the amount of money he had? Even Naruto had a hard time thinking about it.

Yet, as well off as he was, Naruto was lonely. That was, until he met a certain teme. Naruto had heard that Sasuke experienced something strikingly similar, so Naruto decided to go out of his way to meet him.

It was rivalry at first sight.

Needless to say, though they practically grew up together since elementary school, they could not last a minute without starting an argument. Teachers, counselors, everyone tried to get them to put their differences aside (there really weren't many) but to no avail, the hatred grew.

Over the years, the hatred panned out more into more of a 'friendly rivalry', as some liked to say, but it wasn't as if they liked each other. That actually wasn't the case, at all. Sasuke enjoyed Naruto's suffering, especially if he himself was the cause. No matter how much he denied, though, Naruto was glad that he had someone to actually talk to. He was so lonely. Sakura became their friend at some point, too.

But somewhere, deep down in that rotting heart of his, Naruto knew that Sasuke somewhat cared about him. But of course, the minute Naruto mentioned this Sasuke put his defenses right back up.

"Jerk, it's not like I was confessing my love to you!" Naruto had said. Sasuke's face turned tomato colored (probably because he ate so many) and Naruto became a victim of his death glare. After that, Sasuke just left without saying a word and the two hadn't spoken to each other during the summer at all. Naruto really didn't think he had said anything wrong. Like, what was that asshole's issue?

That was on the last day of high school.

And now here they were, roommates, for a whole entire year, and possibly even longer. Naruto thought he wouldn't have to see this jerk this soon. He thought wrong.

Naruto just stood there, dumbfounded, as Sasuke lightly shoved him out of the way and walked out of… _their_ room. Naruto shuddered at the thought of sharing a dorm room with none other than the infamous (in Naruto's eyes) Sasuke who outshone him in basically everything.

Yeah. This wasn't gonna work out.

But just as Sasuke had predicted, when Naruto went to get the approval to switch dorms, he had been kicked out.

"Damn it, Tsunade-obaa-chan," Naruto muttered under his breath as he walked out of the Headmaster's room. "What did you say, Naruto?" Tsunade practically growled. "U-Uh, nothing!" and with that, Naruto scurried out of the room with his tail between his legs.

Naruto sighed and looked at his schedule. Classes didn't really start today, they started in about a week. Starting today and continuing this week, every class had a lecture on how things worked, homework policies, etc. What Naruto had previously been excited for had been something that he did not really look forward to anymore. What if he saw Sasuke there?

Really, though, Sasuke had acted as if nothing happened between them. As if Sasuke didn't totally ignore his phone calls and voicemails. Did he purposely change his number?

Naruto shook his head and slapped both hands on his face, earning him some weird looks. He couldn't let the bastard ruin his first day. It was going to be amazing and nothing was going to get in the way!

So when the first class intro started for Martial Arts History, Naruto certainly did not expect to see his roommate there. Not this soon, damn it.

Naruto ignored Sasuke and scanned the room. He spotted his other friend, Kiba, talking to Hinata and Shino. "Yo, dog boy," Naruto snickered as he sat down next to his buddy. Kiba rolled his eyes and stuck his hand out to do their special handshake.

"What's up, Raw-man?(1)"

"Nothin' much, bro. Hey Hinata! Hey bug nerd." Hinata blushed and Shino coughed, mumbling something that sounded like, "I have a name, you know."

"H-Hi , Naruto-kun, it's n-n-nice t-to see you after s-such a long time!"

"Nice to see you two, too!" Naruto laughed at himself.

"Anyways guess what Kiba?!"

"What, dude?" Kiba raised a brow. "I'm roommates with Sasuke!" Naruto shouted. Kiba's eyes widened.

"What?! But after what happened before school ended…," Kiba trailed off not wanting to let his other two friends know too much. Kiba _was_ one of Naruto's best friends. Hinata and Shino both got the message and decided to talk somewhere else.

"When I walked into the room he didn't mention it at all and acted as if it never happened. It was weird. And get this- Tsunade absolutely refuses to let me move out. Isn't that, like, illegal or something?"

"Woah, she wouldn't let you move out?" Kiba asked.

"Yeah, it was really weird."

"I wonder why," Kiba said while rubbing his chin.

"I guess I'll have to put up with him for the year. I'm gonna ask Tsunade about it again, though. Maybe she wasn't having a bad day." Naruto nodded to himself in conclusion.

"But even if you can't move out, think of the sick pranks you could pull on him."

Naruto's eyes lit up with excitement. "I could fart in his face while sleeping!"

"You could put stink bombs in his closet."

"Or I could mix up his laundry and give him pink underwear!"

"The possibilities are endless. You gotta let me in on this, too."

"Of course, dude!"

They fist bumped and talked for about 15 more minutes until the teacher finally walked in… porn book in hand.

"Hey, isn't that Jiraiya's porn book?" Kiba asked loudly to Naruto.

"Yeah, it looks like it. And why is the teacher so late to class? It's been like 25 minutes!" Naruto asked.

Kiba shrugged.

Kakashi looked over at the two kids talking about his…

It's not porn! It's classic literature!

Once his eyes found the blonde they widened with realization.

 _So that's Minato-sensei's kid, huh?_

Kakashi made a mental note to find out which team the kid would be on and carried on with his teacherly duties.

* * *

Sasuke heard his name being yelled by the blonde idiot but paid no mind to it.

Sasuke had been feeling more than a little generous this morning when he talked to Naruto after what seemed like a century so he decided to shake Naruto up a bit before leaving the room. If it had been any other day Sasuke would've just ignored him but for some reason he just couldn't today.

Sasuke briefly tuned back into reality and noticed that the teacher had arrived about 15 minutes late.

He wasn't going to like this teacher.

Sasuke wasn't mad at Naruto, _no_ , he was mad at himself for getting so riled up inside when Naruto suggested that they could just be friends. After over a decade of knowing each other they could finally be friends, no? Well obviously Sasuke had not been in the right mind that day when Naruto suggested this. Sasuke had actually been thinking of the same thing for a while by then. But why? Why couldn't he accept it that day? This thought bothered Sasuke way too much over the past few months.

That's when Sasuke came to the conclusion that he was jealous. He was always better than Naruto at basically everything. He was an Uchiha, he had better grades, his taijutsu was the best, and his techniques were on par. So why? Why was he getting jealous of his blonde rival?

Because Naruto was catching up to him. It came as a shock to everyone when it was revealed that Naruto had the 9 tailed beast sealed inside his… body. Everything went downhill from there. Jiraiya, one of the legendary Sannin, or as Naruto liked to call "Ero-Sennin", had begun teaching Naruto how to use his SP or sacred power.

Naruto got strong. He got unbelievably strong in an unbelievably short amount of time. Sasuke had always thought of Naruto as someone who followed him, who needed to catch up to him, who eventually would be as strong as him. So. Now that he was getting there, why was he jealous?

Sasuke heard something crack.

He looked down at the broken pencil in his hand. _Oh_ , he thought, _yeah. I'm in class._

The bell conveniently rang which signaled the end of class. Sasuke stood up and gathered his belongings only to be met with a couple of fangirls.

Ah. The joy.

"Sasuke-kun! It's so nice to finally meet you!"

"Sasuke-sama we're in the same class! Isn't that great?!"

"Sasuke, I love you!"

The teen rolled his eyes and briskly walked away with the fangirls on his trail until he finally entered the men's restroom and locked the door behind him.

Wiping an imaginary bead of sweat off his brow he calculated how much time he'd have to stay there until the fangirls finally gave up and left. He waited a total of 5 minutes until he unlocked the door and quietly peaked out. The girls were gone. He slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked to get some lunch. The day was almost over and he had forgotten to eat.

He grabbed a croissant and some coffee and decided to eat by the pond on campus. After eating his lunch he headed to his last class. It was a pretty uneventful day for him besides what had happened in the morning.

Sasuke took a deep breath after his last class finished. He had to face his biggest problem now, who also happened to be his roommate for whoever knows how long?

He walked up the steps to his dorm room, finally opened the door, ready to face his fear.

* * *

Shikamaru didn't want to go to college. He'd rather just get a well paying job that required minimal effort. His parents thought otherwise, of course. His mom, being the annoying woman she was, forced Shikamaru to listen to her blab on and on about how fulfilling college would be.

She also had to mention the fact that Shikamaru was a genius, and how the public would react if they found out that the genius son of Nara did not go to college. His dad just said that it was the only way Shikamaru would be prepared to head the Nara clan.

Shikamaru didn't want to head the Nara clan.

It was too troublesome.

And it just wasn't _his_ type of thing.

But either way, he was forced to go to college anyway.

So here he was, sat in his dorm room, a lit cigarette in his a hand as he puffed out clouds of smoke. He was deeply interested in the shapes he made that he didn't notice his new roommate walk in. His peace was interrupted when his friend snatched the cigarette out of his hand and put it out.

On Shikamaru's hand.

"Fuck! Chouji! What the hell was that for?"

"Oi, Shikamaru," his old friend said, "the rules explicitly say no smoking in dorm rooms. Plus that stuff is basically killing you. Welcome back to reality, by the way."

Shikamaru ran his burned hand through his hair before getting up and making his way to the bathroom to run it under some cold water. "So we're roommates this year, huh?" he asked.

"Of course we're roommates! We're best friends, remember?" Chouji said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Uh-huh."

"What's that supposed to mean, _Shika_?"

"Well since you effectively burned off some of my skin just now, I'm starting to rethink our friendship. Especially after you called me that horrible nickname." Shikamaru dried his hands with a towel and walked outside onto the balcony attached to their room.

"Oh shut up, Shikamaru. I'm worried about your health is all," Chouji said joining Shikamaru outside.

"Well my health is just _fine_."

"Whatever you say, Shikamaru. Are you gonna come to class today?"

"No. It's not even really class."

"Okay well I'll see you l-"

"No you won't!" Shikamaru stiffened at the all too familiar voice. _Shit._ He slowly turned around to see his… lovely blonde friend looking slightly pissed. Nah, scratch that. She looked really pissed. Also, she wasn't lovely.

 _She looks like my mother._

"You are NOT skipping out on the first day of school." Shikamaru opened his mouth to say something but Ino silenced him with her hand.

"Shut it! I don't want to hear any excuses about how it's not an _actual day of class,_ " Ino mimicked Shikamaru's lazy voice.

"First, that doesn't sound anything like me at all. Second, I really _don't care_ ," Shikamaru drawled.

Ino raised her eyebrows and placed a hand on her hip.

 _This doesn't look good._

"You are not going to give your teachers a bad impression on the first day of school. Come, you're going to smile and be a nice, lovely, student that your mother would be proud of," Ino said as she dragged Shikamaru out of the dorm.

 _What a drag._

"Wait- How did you even find my dorm?" Shikamaru asked.

"Your mom told me the room number so I could make sure that you didn't skip your first day."

 _Of course. It was my mom's idea._

* * *

Long mocha hair, beautiful pale eyes, and a strong draw was what made all of the heads turn in his direction.

The young Hyūga walking into Strategics class ignored all of the stares pointed at him.

This would be his second year of college.

He looked around for a place to sit and decided to sit near a window. Unfortunately, the only available seat left near a window was next to a certain lazy shadow user.

"Nara Shikamaru," was all the noble Neji said in his deep, velvety voice as he sat down.

Shikamaru gave no sign that he heard Neji and that slightly infuriated the older man. Neji decided to let it go, after all the lazy teen next to him was most likely sleeping.

Neji took out his notebook and began writing out his schedule in neat cursive. It was then when he realized that sitting next to a sleeping student wouldn't be the best image on his first day of university, but when he looked around for another place to sit everything had already been taken. He was out of luck already and it had only been the first class of the day.

The teacher came in and introduced himself as Sarutobi Asuma-sensei. He started calling out names and students replied with "here" or "present". When he reached Shikamaru's name and the Nara stayed silent, he got a little annoyed.

"Nara Shikamaru!" he yelled. This seemed to have worked as Shikamaru slowly lifted his head up and stretched, yawning. "Here," he lazily said before lifting his elbow onto his desk and propping his chin down on his hand.

"Next time you should get better rest before the first day of school. Don't wanna give your teachers a bad impression. Good thing I'm a cool teacher, though!" said Asuma-sensei and some students chuckled.

The smell of smoke hit Neji's nose and he inwardly grimaced. He glanced at Shikamaru, slowly raising an elegant eyebrow. Shikamaru looked at the Hyūga from the corner of his eye but said nothing.

After the roll call, the teacher went on to explaining what they'd be learning about (as if the name of the class wasn't explanation enough).

As he did this, Neji sneaked another glance at Shikamaru and raised his eyebrows when he noticed the younger teen already looking at him. When the Nara said nothing Neji chose to ignore him for the rest of the class.

At the end of class, Neji picked up all of his stuff and neatly put it into his bag as Shikamaru sloppily shoved everything into his.

"Destroying your health with cigarettes, Nara?"

"Meddling in other people's business, Hyūga?"

"Hn. As if I care about your self-destructive habits."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes.

"If you want to destroy your health, there are other ways to go about it. We are at Konoha Academy, after all."

Shikamaru stared at Neji's back as he elegantly strode away, pondering what that last comment meant.

Shikamaru shrugged after a few seconds and walked away. Hopefully he could find some place to nap and ditch all of his classes...

He didn't notice the Sarutobi watching him intently as he walked away.

* * *

Sasuke was tackled the moment his right foot was in the room.

"Teme! How come you didn't text or call me all summer?!" Sasuke cringed at his roommate's loud and obnoxious voice above him. He looked up and was met with vibrant blue eyes.

"Sasuke…," Naruto growled.

"What, dobe?"

"Answer my question!"

"My phone broke and I had to get a new one. I lost all of my contacts. Now, get. off. me."

Naruto stared at him for a long moment as if to determine whether or not he was lying.

"You liar!" he concluded.

"I'm not lying, dumbass."

He was lying.

Naruto stared at him for another moment before deciding to get off of Sasuke and stand up.

"Show me your phone, then," he said and held his hand out expectantly. Sasuke rolled his eyes and took his phone out of his back pocket to hand to Naruto. Naruto took it without delay and said, "This is the same phone, dude!"

"My old phone was the latest model so I just got a new one of the same model."

Naruto looked at him warily before unlocking Sasuke's phone and going through his contacts.

"Your contacts are all gone, Sasuke."

"Of course they are! I got a new phone, dobe. Now give it back." Sasuke snatched his phone back before waiting for a reply and stepped into his room.

Good thing Sasuke impulsively deleted all of his contacts before arriving at school this morning.

Naruto followed him into the room and asked, "Anyway, how did you know I was your roommate?"

"One of your boxes said your name on it."

"Oh."

"Yeah, oh." Sasuke scoffed.

Sasuke sat down on the couch and began organizing his school supplies.

Naruto just stared at him, waiting for something that he obviously wasn't going to get.

"Enjoying the view?"

Naruto made a choking sound before exclaiming, "Shut up, jerk! I just wanted to say that uh I was… uh, sorry for what I said to you a few months ago. I'm sorry if I made you mad and-"

"Apologizing to your rival? Doesn't sound like the rival I know. Don't worry, usuratonkachi, I'm not mad. I forgot all about it."

"Well then why did you walk away like that? I was not thankful for you Uchiha death stare! And I was _not_ worried."

Sasuke shrugged.

* * *

Naruto looked at him, eyebrows raised and expecting a reply back but got nothing in return. Realizing he wasn't going to get any answers, Naruto sighed and walked into the bedroom.

The room was nice and big, for a dorm room. The front door led to the living room with a couch and big flat screen tv. The wall to the left of it had an arch that led into the small dining area with a table, sink, stove/oven, and fridge. The wall to the right of the living area had a door that led to the bedroom and a door in the bedroom that led to the bathroom. They were two full sized beds.

It was nothing compared to what Sasuke and Naruto were used to at their private estates, but it would do for college.

Naruto sat looked at the two beds carefully before choosing the one on the left as his.

Naruto lived quite the miles away from Kohacad(2) and would rather have the few extra minutes to sleep in. He also thought it would be cool to make new friends so he decided to room with someone else.

Of course, that plan backfired and here he was, stuck with his annoying rival. Since they were already registered as roommates, it would have taken a few days to move out but it wouldn't have been _impossible._

 _Why is Tsunade-obaa-chan so adamant on me living together with Sasuke?_

Naruto really didn't want to test what it'd be like if he got Tsunade angry, so he'd deal with this problem… for now at least.

Naruto knew Tsunade because Jiraiya, his mentor, had been teammates with her at this very school many, _many_ , years ago.

Teammates are chosen for a certain worldwide competition called the Master of the Arts Competition, where college students go head to head using their sacred power(3) and taijutsu to earn fame, power, prestige, and more. No one truly knows what the grand prize of the competition will be since it changes every year and is always kept a secret until the very end.

Naruto's parents had been on the same team and won the competition together.

Naruto vaguely recalled Sasuke mentioning that his dad and his older brother had both won the competition, too.

He didn't know what prize they won but it must have been amazing and if his parents could win, he would do win, too. Naruto was sick of seeing everyone eye him with pity or even _disappointment_ that he has not turned out as great at his father or mother.

This Kyuubi (who Naruto happened to get under partial control a year ago) and Naruto were totally gonna win this together! Along with the help of his new teammates.

Naruto looked over to his right and stared at the wall approximately where Sasuke should have been seated.

 _Sasuke? A teammate? Haha, no way!_

Naruto yawned and felt a little sleepy.

 _A little nap won't hurt, right?_

He closed his eyes and slowly drifted off to sleep and had sweet dreams.

* * *

 ** _Sometime in the future_**

Naruto always wished he could go back. He wished he could go back to the days when he and his teammates were happily training together and making fun of each other.

Naruto dislocated his thumbs to get out of the handcuffs and healed them back together with sacred power.

Was it really important? What Sasuke left for? Was it worth leaving his team?

And was it really worth leaving _him_?

Naruto thought he was important to Sasuke. And what they had together…

Naruto shook his head. He couldn't give up yet. His goal was about to be reached. Sasuke was so close.

He ran out into the bright sunlight and looked up.

 _There he is._

"Sasu- what?"

Naruto's eyes widened as he took in what was happening in front of him. It felt like slow motion.

He ran, reaching out his hand. "Wait!" he heard himself yell but didn't really feel it.

But it was too late.

Sasuke was already gone.

Again.

* * *

Naruto woke up with a start. His whole body was flushed and he was panting.

"You alright, adobe?"

Naruto rolled his eyes at the name.

"Yeah I'm fine. Why?"

He wasn't fine. He had a dream about his parents dying.

"You were shouting in your sleep."

"O-Oh." Naruto sheepishly scratched his head. "Sorry," he mumbled.

Sasuke snorted and turned around in his bed, facing the wall.

"Whatever."

He decided to make small talk to take whatever it was off the blonde's mind. 'Cause that's what rivals were for, right?

"Today's the first day of school," he whispered.

"Yeah."

"Ready to find out who your teammates are going to be?"

"Che, it's definitely not going to be you."

"Same to you, usuratonkachi."

Naruto chuckled slightly and slowly drifted off to sleep thinking that it was kind of nice to be talking to Sasuke like this.

* * *

"Alright kiddos, time to announce who your teammates for the MOA(4) competition will be," said Kakashi-sensei.

Naruto zoned out until he heard his name.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura-"

"Yatta!" shouted Naruto as he pumped his fist in the air.

"-and Uchiha Sasuke."

What?

 _What?_

Naruto looked over to where Sasuke was sitting and scowled when he saw the smirk on the jerk's face.

"Oh, looks like I'll also be the mentor of this team, too."

 _WHAT!_

Sakura was fine but….

Naruto, teammates with his ultimate rival Sasuke?

And a shady looking teacher who had his face covered in a mask and a Kohacad forehead protector covering his eye. Not to mention he shows up late to class every day with one of Ero-sennin's perverted books and he doesn't even look that strong. Especially when he's giggling at the porn book in class when he's supposed to be teaching!

Little did Naruto know that this was only the beginning of his nightmare.

* * *

1\. A play on the word Ramen

2\. The shortened way the students say Konoha Academy. Students also call it Konocad. (I like both so I'll switch it up, haha.)

3\. This will be further explained in a future chapter. Patience, my friends.

4\. Master of the Arts


	3. Three's A Crowd

**Master of the Arts**

 **Arc 1** : Settling In Part 2

 **Chapter 3: Three's A Crowd**

 **Summary:** After Naruto and Sakura lose their best friend, they go to extreme measures to get him back. Shikamaru tries too hard to reach into Neji's past and ends up uncovering secrets about himself along the way. Remember kids, everything is connected and it all leads back to the man who started it all. This is a journey for everyone to bring back the people they love.

* * *

Truth be told, Kakashi practically begged Tsunade-sama to let him mentor his former sensei's kid's team. It was interesting, especially to Asuma and Genma, to say the least.

Though he wasn't the only one interested in a student.

Asuma was vaguely interested in the kid sleeping in his classroom earlier that week. So he did the honorable thing that any other man would do.

He begged to have the Nara's kid on his team, too.

Asuma knew Shikamaru albeit not very well. Asuma was his father's old family friend. He tried to make small talk with the kid before but he just looked bored and rudely walked away.

He was going to befriend that kid, dammit!

Last year Gai also begged to be the the teacher of his student, Rock Lee's, team. Gai decided to hold off a year before sending his students into the competition.

The MOA competition was deadly. Asuma vaguely remembered that _that_ was what the Hyūga kid was implying yesterday when talking to the Nara.

Gai did a good thing waiting until his team was ready to fight but Asuma wasn't so sure that he was going to do that as well.

It seemed he was also acquaintances with the parents of the other two kids on his team.

 _Yamanaka Ino and Akimichi Chouji, hm?_

Asuma was going to have a good time with this team.

That is why when he left the usual meeting in Tsunade's office that day, he group texted his team.

Because he was a _cool_ teacher.

Asuma mentally slapped himself in the face after realizing how stupid it had sounded.

Shikaku and his wife were good people. Shikaku may have been a bit secluded and withdrawn but it was fun to play shogi with the man. Yoshino on the other hand was very nice and polite to everyone.

Asuma supposed the two distinct personalities somehow balanced out and created the lazy genius who was now his student.

Shikaku didn't talk about his son much, or anyone for that matter. But it was clear that when he did talk about Shikamaru that he was sincerely proud of the kid.

This motivated Asuma to form a bond with the kid, no matter how silly it actually seemed.

* * *

Neji took pride in the fact that he was a very patient man.

But his patience was running thin today.

Tenten wasn't putting her all in training today and when Neji was going _too fast for her pace_ she got upset.

It wasn't _his_ fault that she was being lazy, for goodness sake.

Gai and Lee's enthusiasm, albeit a common occurrence, gave him a headache. It didn't help that he could not stop thinking about Nara Shikamaru.

He did not care, he kept telling himself, that Shikamaru was killing himself.

It's just smoking, he told himself.

It won't kill him… immediately, he told himself.

It did bug him a bit, though.

If asked, Neji would immediately deny thinking about the Nara.

He was confused as to why he could not stop thinking about him. They hadn't even seen each other since Neji was a senior in high school and Shikamaru was a junior.

It was unnerving, to say the least, that he had been thinking about someone who he was barely acquaintances with.

Neji decided that it was best to stop thinking about it. Unimportant things like this would hinder his goals.

His goals such as Anbu.

Yeah, slaving yourself away to protect the country wasn't the best… job choice. But it was better than his current situation.

It was clear that Hiashi-sama was intent on making one of his daughters the heir to the master power. It certainly wasn't going to be Hinata, either.

The best choice of an heir would of course be Neji.

That was impossible.

After the branch family was created to protect the master power, it was decided that no one in the branch family would be able to inherit the master power.

It just wasn't reasonable.

But maybe, maybe if Neji was able to win the MOA-

Neji internally shook his head.

Neji knew he was strong and he was sure there were few, if any, people who could actually defeat him. But any prize the MOA had to offer wouldn't be enough to set him free from this… hell.

He reached up and touched his forehead protector, outlining where his curse mark would be.

 _Anbu it is._

Kakashi had heard about his goal toward Anbu. He wasn't encouraging.

Guy strictly forbade it, but really, what could he do?

Gai had no power over him.

Neji was a Hyūga.

He'd be one forever.

Looking into a mirror everyday served as a reminder to where he belonged. The bandaged forehead. The distinct family features- the pale moonlit eyes, long brown hair, strong jaw, and confident face would never disappear.

His reflection would laugh at him through the mirror. Laugh at him for being such a disappointment- for being his _father's_ disappointment.

Anbu offered him an outlet. No more family to serve, no more curse mark. No more mistakes to be made.

He'd be _perfect._

That's all he'd ever strived to be and he wouldn't settle for less.

But Neji couldn't help but hope. _Hope_ that if he won this competition, some good might come out of it. Of course, though, his team would have to be perfect. And for his team to be perfect, they'd have to stop slacking off.

He shot a glare at Tenten as if expecting her to have read his mind.

 _Perfection._

That was the only word with meaning to him.

* * *

Today was the first meeting of their team.

Naruto couldn't stop shooting Sasuke subtle yet deadly glares as if it was his fault that they'd ended up on the same team. Naruto got really annoyed at Sasuke's barely hidden amusement at his despair.

Sakura was obviously slightly uncomfortable but also enjoying the animosity between the two boys. It was common so she didn't really mind. But if the two got out of hand she _would_ be the one to stop them, precisely with a fist in their faces.

It didn't help that Kakashi-sensei was also late as always! Naruto hoped that since this _was_ his team he'd be mentoring for the entire college experience, he'd at least try to give a good impression on the first day.

Didn't seem like that was gonna happen anytime soon.

Naruto was genuinely about to leave when Kakashi jumped down from a tree that Naruto swore wasn't there a second before.

"Yo, team!"

"Boo!" Naruto stuck out his tongue and gave Kakashi a big thumbs down. Sasuke rolled his eyes at his childishness and Sakura laughed.

"Ah, getting on the bad side of my teacher's son already? Bad Kakashi," Kakashi reprimanded himself.

Naruto looked up in confusion. What was he talking about? Teacher's son?

Kakashi must have sensed his confusion or just decided to tell him anyway, and said, "You look just like Minato-sensei." He stood in front of the kid and smiled through his mask.

"Minato-sensei? You knew my dad?" Naruto asked.

"Yeah. He was the one who taught me everything I know," Kakashi chuckled.

Naruto couldn't keep the smile off his face as he said, "My dad was pretty awesome, huh? I'm sorry for doubting you Mr. Teacher-Sensei-Mentor-Sir!" Naruto saluted him. "If you were worthy enough to be my dad's student then you're worthy enough of being my teacher."

"Get over yourself, dobe," Sasuke said as he made his way over to the two, Sakura following.

Naruto gave him a raspberry.

"Agh- Dobe! You're getting spit in my face!"

"That was the point, ass!"

"Now, now boys-"

"Heh, I knew it, Sasuke! I can't work with you."

"I'm not the one suffering here. I can't work with you either! You're a slob, you're impatient, you never listen to orders, and you always have that stupid grin on your face. You should be happy that you get to be on _my_ team."

"Oh, _really_? _Your_ team, huh?"

"Yeah. My team. Need me to repeat it again?"

"Oh fuck me, Sasuke. You're a pain in the ass, you're a show off, you do things by your own rules _and_ by yourself. So don't give me that crap about me not listening to orders 'cause you're no better."

"Fuck you? Oh? Getting kinky now, are we?"

"Sasuke!"

"Excuse me Kakashi-sensei. I'll deal with this momentarily."

Sakura promptly stood between the two and grabbed their ears, pinching them for what felt like hours to them. It was for only 30 seconds.

Once she let them go, Sakura smacked the top of their heads for good measure. She stood next to Kakashi, silently admiring herself for being able to tame the two dogs.

"Sorry Sakura-chan."

"Tch."

Kakashi sighed, fearing for what would become of their team in the future.

"Well now that that's over, let's do some trust activities," said Kakashi.

"Trust activities? Hah, yeah right, I barely trust this bastard-"

Sakura glared at Naruto and he winced.

"But I already trust Sakura-chan!" Naruto exclaimed as he held out his hands expecting Sakura to hug him but just as he leaned forward Sakura stepped out of the way, letting Naruto fall on his face instead. Sakura tried to stifle her laughing.

Naruto groaned.

The other two laughed.

He _really_ wasn't going to like this team.

* * *

They had stopped the trust activities some time ago and were currently practicing their teamwork when Sasuke asked, "When is the MOA competition going to start?"

"Hm," Kakashi mused, "Well it's currently September. It doesn't start until January."

"Oh so we have plenty of time to train, right?" Sakura asked.

Kakashi sighed and crouched down, rubbing his chin while he thought. "Well, not necessarily, no. This year the competition is in the land of the Earth," he said while drawing a map in the dirt with a kunai.

"To get from where we are, Land of Fire, to here, Land of Earth," he pointed to the two lands and then drew a path directly from the Fire to the Earth, "it would normally only take about 2 weeks on foot so-"

"Wait?" Sasuke asked. "On foot?"

"We're not going there by car?" Naruto continued.

Kakashi chuckled. "You guys don't much about this competition, do you?"

The three students looked at each other briefly wondering what he meant.

"Well it can't be helped, it is a pretty discreet competition. The MOA competition requires its contestants to get there by foot."

"Why?" asked Naruto.

"To weed out the weak teams," Kakashi answered while wagging his index finger side to side. Sasuke raised a questioning eyebrow. "You mean," he started, "we have to walk all the way there and fight anyone who gets in our way."

"Fight or _kill_ ," Kakashi corrected. "There is a certain path or pathways connected to each land precisely just for this event." He drew a web of paths connecting each land together.

"It's called the Road of Survival. By going through this preliminary test, the test advisors get to weed out anyone who isn't fit or worthy for the competition. Any team can leave at whatever time they want. I wouldn't be surprised if any teams from this school were already planning to leave," Kakashi said, half to himself.

"Wait," Naruto asked, "some teams are leaving _now_? But you said it only took 2 weeks to get there! The competition isn't until January. Doesn't that seem a little too much on the safe side?"

"And doesn't that give Iwa academy a huge advantage? They're literally right next to the competition," Sakura chimed in.

"Well, you two are absolutely right. It does normally take two weeks to get there on foot but teams will purposely put traps out to stop other teams. Even teams with highly skilled members can take up to months to get to the MOAs. And to answer your question, Sakura, each year the MOAs is held in a different place. The people who happen to be near it are just lucky. Don't forget- luck is also important, too."

"How wide is the road?" asked Sasuke.

"Many miles wide. It's possible that you might not even see anyone on the way there. Also, I won't be making the trip with you. It'd give you an unfair advantage plus it's against the rules. I'll be waiting for you there and the sooner you get there we can resume our training. Oh, and as a general rule of thumb, don't die."

Kakashi left them a moment to let the information sink in before he sighed and stood up to stretch his muscles. "But, you _are_ my team. You aren't going to die so soon."

Naruto grinned and Sakura smirked. Sasuke just 'hn'ed.

"You guys already know how to fight pretty well so from now until the beginning of November I'm going to put you three through some vigorous training. Promise me you won't die from this!" Kakashi chuckled.

"Yeah!"

"Woo!"

"Whatever."

* * *

Short chapter, sorry! Sorry for any mistakes, haha. But I know where I'm going with this and I already have the next chapter halfway done. Maybe I'll update again today or tomorrow.

Hope you enjoyed.


	4. The Pressure Is On

**Master of the Arts**

 **Arc 1** : Settling In Part 3

 **Chapter 4: The Pressure Is On**

 **Summary:** After Naruto and Sakura lose their best friend, they go to extreme measures to get him back. Shikamaru tries too hard to reach into Neji's past and ends up uncovering secrets about himself along the way. Remember kids, everything is connected and it all leads back to the **man who started it all.** This is a journey for everyone to bring back the people they love.

 **Disclaimer:** Me? Own? Haha, no.

* * *

"It's not good for kids your age to smoke," Asuma drawled as he sat down next to a Shikamaru laying on his back and looking up at the clouds.

It had been a week since Ino-Shika-Chou became teammates and the two currently sitting next to each other had become somewhat familiar in those few days.

"It's not good for old men to smoke, either," he lazily replied back looking at Asuma from the corner of his eyes to gauge his reaction.

Asuma stared at him for a moment before chuckling.

"Besides, I'm not a kid," Shikamaru shrugged.

"Compared to this old man right here you are." Asuma pointed his thumb at himself. Shikamaru just smirked and went along with it. "Well I bet you can't beat this kid at shogi," said Shikamaru while he cracked his knuckles and gave his sensei a lazy smile.

Asuma raised his eyebrow and decided to take that as a challenge.

* * *

Asuma wasn't dumb. He knew what Shikamaru was capable of. But apparently he had underestimated the kids' intelligence as now Asuma had just lost his fourth game of shogi. _In a row._

Asuma did not win, not once.

Asuma put out his cigarette and stared, completely dumbfounded and intrigued at the same time. Genius apparently was an understatement when it came to Shikamaru.

"You're pretty good, kid," he said.

"Oh _thanks_. That means a lot coming from the guy who lost to me four times."

"I can't believe it. I could never beat Shikaku but to think that I couldn't even beat his son? Maybe I really am getting old."

Shikamaru smiled. He had gotten quite comfortable around Asuma in the past week and he really liked that. No one else besides his father would play shogi with him and even though Asuma couldn't beat him he wasn't terribly bad. He'd actually put up a challenge here and there.

Shikamaru looked up at his sensei and asked, "Wanna get your ass kicked one more time?"

"Well, _Shika_." Shikamaru's eye twitched. In the short time they had spent together Asuma hadn't failed to find out the nickname he hated most.

 _Thanks Ino._

"As tempting as that sounds," Asuma continued, "I have some papers to grade and teacher stuff to do." His voice strained as he got up and stretched, Shikamaru soon doing the same.

"Then have a good evening, Asuma-sensei," Shikamaru said as he turned to leave.

"Thanks for the cigarettes by the way," he heard Asuma say but before he could fully comprehend what that meant Asuma had already taken off.

Shikamaru reached into his pockets and froze.

His pack of cigarettes was gone.

 _Damn Asuma._

* * *

Naruto pulled out a Kunai from his pouch and twirled it around on his finger before securely grabbing it properly and aiming it at his target.

It had been two weeks since the official announcement of their team and Kakashi was not lying. This training had been deadly, dangerous, scary, and just downright _evil_.

 _I can't_ believe _he was my dad's student._

Naruto stared at the 3rd tier fighter in front of him as he carefully masked his presence. Naruto himself was a 3rd tier fighter and he was having trouble with this guy!

The mission had been to capture him using NP or nature power but Naruto was just about to give up and admit defeat.

 _But if Sasuke completes this and I don't then he'll brag about it whenever he gets a chance. Tch._

Naruto attached an explosive tag to the end of his kunai and threw it at the suspect. Once the tag went off he used the smoke as a screen to use his rasengan on the target.

But as he pushed his hand at the target there was no impact. He went straight through the target.

 _Shit! It's a trap!_

Naruto had no time to figure out an escape and was captured by the fake clone of his target.

"Uzumaki Naruto," the masked figure said.

Huh? He knew his name?

Naruto must have said that out loud since the guy in front of him started chuckling. "I'm actually a 2nd tier fighter. It's almost impossible to beat me, let alone capture me. You've done a great job using your skills."

Seeing as Naruto was still confused the man went on.

"The goal of this mission wasn't to capture me, it was to see how well you did in tricky situations."

"Oh."

Then it dawned on him.

"Oh! So I passed then?" Naruto grinned.

The man smiled under his mask. "You pass."

"Yay! I'm totally going to rub it in Sasuke's face!"

* * *

Since Naruto hadn't been home by the time Sasuke got back he figured that Naruto was having some difficulty with their mission.

Hmph, Dobe.

Wait.

What?

Did Sasuke just refer to their dorm as his home?

He must've been really exhausted to have thought of something so absurd.

But was it really that strange? They were going to be living together for quite a while and Sasuke hadn't once thought about how weird that actually was.

That annoying old woman Tsunade refused to let him switch roommates or even move out because apparently the room had already been paid off and she wasn't going to refund him.

Not that Sasuke cared. His share of the payment didn't even put a dent in his bank account so it wasn't really a loss.

Sasuke figured that Tsunade must have been up to something and that was what bothered him the most. Did him living with Naruto really matter that much to her?

He and Naruto were possibly, sort of friends. Maybe. He still hated a lot about the loud blonde but when it really came down to everything, Naruto wasn't _that_ bad or all that different besides their personalities that somehow worked pretty well together. They both lost their parents and were all alone with huge houses and lots of money.

The only difference is that whenever Naruto thought about his family, he got sad and happy. Sad that they were gone but happy because he really loved them.

When Sasuke thought about his family he would immediately shut down and let anger cloud his judgement. He knew this was bad but he couldn't stop. If he didn't cling onto that anger and hatred he wouldn't be able to get stronger and face his worst nightmare.

 _Itachi._

That anger was what motivated him to do well in school and train the hardest. That's why he was so strong. If that anger was stripped away from him all that would remain was a lonely and depressed young man who just wanted his family and nii-san back.

That image of himself disgusted Sasuke more than anything else. He wasn't going to become some sad kicked puppy. This is where Sasuke really couldn't understand Naruto. Didn't Naruto also want to avenge his parents' deaths? To Sasuke, getting his revenge was necessary if he wanted to have a happy life…

… But this freaked Sasuke out to a whole new level. What if killing Itachi didn't give him the results he'd expected? Would he end up lonely and empty instead? Would he be sad that he was the only Uchiha left in the world? Or would he have a happy and fulfilling life afterwards?

Sasuke feared of becoming an empty shell of a person who used to be alive. He feared of becoming like his brother.

Sasuke shook his head.

He trained so hard for so long to start having regrets now. He wasn't going to let his whole entire life up until the point when he killed Itachi to go to waste. Sasuke was determined to make Itachi pay for his sins.

Sasuke exhaled a breath he didn't notice he was holding and sat down on the couch. His hands swept over the leather seat until it found the remote. He flipped through many channels until he found something remotely interesting to watch about some ninjas having an exam.

His mind started to wander and he found himself thinking about the approaching competition. Sasuke didn't care all that much about the award itself unless it would give him more information about Itachi's whereabouts. Plus he'd need to at least attempt to win this mission if he wanted to become a 2nd tier fighter. Not that it mattered what level fighter he was. He'd get his revenge no matter what.

Sasuke cared about getting more experience in the outside world. Unfortunately up until the end of high school, most students don't get much experience fighting in life or death situations.

There also may be other stages that could lead him to some good information. And if that many people were going to join the competition, there had to be _someone_ who knew about Itachi and where he currently was.

The main goal of this competition was to gather info and get fighting experience, basically.

An event that was so popular would surely attract Itachi's attention. If Itachi was there, well, Sasuke would show him how strong he was.

He would show them who the stronger brother really was.

Sasuke smirked.

He was actually pretty excited for something for once.

* * *

"When are you planning on letting your kids leave, Kakashi?" asked Tsunade while she stamped a bunch of papers she didn't really care too much about and didn't read through either. Shizune sighed. It was her responsibility to go through everything once more when Tsunade didn't pay attention to what she was reading.

Before her stood the 2nd tier teachers who were here to inform her when their kids would be joining the competition.

"I plan on letting them leave in early November," said Kakashi as the door behind him opened and closed. "That early, Hatake? Though you'd have some _faith_ in your kids."

"Oh! Genma and Raidou!" Gai shouted enthusiastically for no particular reason.

Kakashi looked behind him to see his old... 'friend', as most people would call it, senbon in mouth, smirking at him. "Raidou, _Shiranui_ , what a pleasant surprise. To what do we owe the pleasure?" Kakashi asked insincerely.

Genma squinted his eyes at him but said nothing more and let his partner speak for him. "We're just dropping off some papers," said Raidou. "Both of us are pretty busy because of the competition. Genma and I going to be judges this year." Raidou placed the stack of papers neatly on Tsunade's desk and gave her a small bow.

"I do have _faith_ in my children, Genma," Kakashi said. "I'm sure they'll take less than a few weeks. Besides, I have Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto on my team. They're not going to lose."

This information intrigued the Shiranui. "An Uzumaki.. No…," Genma briefly closed his eyes then slowly opened them, "A Namikaze and an Uchiha on the same team? Sure that's gonna work out alright?"

Asuma sighed. "Is there a reason to be concerned?" asked Kurenai. Kakashi gave a deadly glare and was about to snap at him when Tsunade cleared her throat and tapped her nails on her desk.

"Wrong place, wrong time. Hatake, Shiranui." Tsunade stared at them for a moment and sighed. She gestured to Raidou and Genma that they were dismissed.

Genma seemed to get the message and flicked his senbon back and forth for a second before motioning Raidou to follow him. He glanced at Kakashi once more and then left the room.

"Gai, what about you?" Tsunade asked continuing where she had left off before the interruption.

"Of course they are leaving at same time as Kakashi's team! My team won't be beaten by yours, Kakashi."

"Oh? Wanna bet?"

Asuma cleared his throat and joined in. "I guess I'll have my kids leave at the same time as yours then."

"And mine, too," said Kurenai.

Soon many other teachers were joining in which greatly amused Tsunade.

"Hm," she said, "the first team that reaches the end of the Road of Survival will get an extra something from me. That is, if your teams don't die on the way there." She grinned and Shizune could only imagine what type of sadistic 'prize' Tsunade would give out.

"What prize?" asked Kakashi.

Tsunade stopped grinning and began to bite on her thumbnail.

 _Of course_ , thought Shizune, _she didn't even think it all the way through, did she?_ "I'll think about it later," said Tsunade as she gestured to the door. "Now go away, I have work to do."

The teachers looked at each other for a moment and then filed out of the office. Before Kakashi got a chance to escape to read some of his 'classic literature' he was stopped by Gai.

"What, Gai?" Kakashi was annoyed enough already because of Genma and didn't want to be subject to one of Gai's terrible contests to prove which one of them was better.

"Are you sure about letting your kids leave this early?" Gai leaned against the door to Shizune's office and studied Kakashi's face for a moment. "It's true that I think they'll finish early but I'd rather give them enough time if they needed it."

"That's not what I meant."

"Hm?"

"My team is very strong and even I decided to hold off on the competition for a whole year. Are you sure about yours? The only strong one on your team seems to be Uchiha Sasuke and one strong team member isn't enough to survive. I thought you of all people would know that, Kakashi. You're not one to do things without thinking them through."

Kakashi took a deep breath before answering.

"Gai."

"What?"

"This is _my_ team, not yours, and I think I know more about my team than you do. I believe that they are ready and I wouldn't send them off if they weren't. I thought _you_ of all people would know that, Gai," Kakashi mimicked.

Gai smirked and said, "I was just making sure, Kakashi. Don't worry," Kakashi wasn't worried, "I trust your decision. Beware of my kids, they're stronger than yours and _will_ beat them."

"Do you wanna continue with that bet then? Whichever team gets through the Road of Survival first wins. If your team wins you get 20 extra wins in our rivalry contest. _If_ your team can make it that far." Kakashi beamed from under his mask. As annoying as it was, Kakashi did want the upper hand in the rivalry contest thing they've been doing for years now.

"Hahaha, Kakashi! That's what I'm talking about!" Gai jabbed his finger at himself, "My team _will_ win."

"So it's a deal?" Kakashi stuck out his hand to shake on it and Gai complied.

"Deal."

* * *

Kakashi did have faith in his kids. But looking at Sasuke reminded him of his younger self and that seemed to worry him more than the upcoming competition.

Kakashi had thought it a fluke the first time it happened. But then it happened again. And again.

It was the same look Kakashi had when he was a child and if that wasn't frightening then he didn't know what else was.

Kakashi knew what happened with the Uchiha clan. He wasn't that young when it had happened and by then his teammates were long gone.

But the look in Sasuke's eyes caught him off guard and put him in a bad mood for the rest of the day. It didn't help that Genma _just_ had to stress him out even more.

If Kakashi was right, Sasuke would be hell bent on revenge for his clan and with Itachi still somewhere out there, well, Kakashi just might have to talk some sense into the kid before he attempted anything dangerous.

He wasn't going to let Sasuke become the harbinger of destruction to the team. If Genma had been referring to the obliteration of his and Obito's team then he was going to show that fucker just how determined he was to keep his team intact.

Even if it meant going through the fiery depths of hell.

* * *

Kakashi called their team down to the huge forest near campus to discuss their training results. Naruto's big stupid grin was really annoying Sasuke and he just wanted to get this over with so he could go back to his personal training.

"I'm impressed, Sasuke."

Naruto looked confused for a moment. "Why are you impressed, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Well I'm sure you all figured out what the true objective of the training session was and that the fighters you were supposedly going to capture were 2 tier fighters. Even so, Sasuke managed to capture his fighter."

Sasuke smirked when he saw the deflated look on Naruto's face. He'd figured that the fighters were too difficult for his other two teammates but it hadn't been impossible for him.

"I'm guessing you couldn't capture him, dobe?"

"Sh- Shut up!"

Kakashi waved his hand to gain back their attention and continued. "Now now, while it's true that Sasuke managed to capture his target, you and Sakura both did exceptionally well."

"Hah. Take that, teme!"

Sasuke rolled his eyes and ignored his roommate's playful taunting.

"Anyways, the real reason I called you three down here was to discuss the MOA competition." Kakashi passed out a sheet of paper to the three students.

Sakura scanned the paper and then raised an eyebrow at her teacher. "What's this?"

"It's a consent form," Kakashi answered.

"A consent form for what?"

"Gee, dobe, who knows?" Sasuke's voice was dripping with sarcasm. "Maybe it's for the MOA competition like it says right there at the _top of the paper_." Sasuke jammed his finger at the top of a pouting Naruto's consent form.

"Whatever," Naruto murmured looking everywhere else but the form in his hand.

"We're not responsible for any deaths during the competition or any preliminary exams that may occur," Sasuke read aloud and raised his head to look at Kakashi. "Preliminary exams?"

Kakashi nodded. "Mm. There have been cases in the past where too many students had passed the Road of Survival and other tests afterward. To reduce the number of students they may hold a preliminary exam before the next stage."

"Also," Kakashi went on, "It's very often that teams make alliances and decide not to fight so that they can all pass the Road of Survival together. So you'll most likely be given an incentive to fight other teams."

Sakura rolled the form and put it in her bag. "An incentive? Like what?"

Kakashi put his hands in his pockets and looked as if he was lost in his thoughts for a moment before answering.

"Well, it changes every year but when I was a kid there was a prize of over 10 million ryo that was split and given to each team that passed. The less people that passed meant that more money went to the winning teams. It motivated people to kill each other in hopes to win the award."

Kakashi pulled his Icha Icha Paradise book from out of his back pocket and opened it back to where he had left off. "Of course, there were people who just killed for the fun of it."

Kakashi sneaked a peak at Sasuke to see if his reaction had changed after hearing his last few words. It didn't.

"There's one more thing I wanna talk to you guys about." Kakashi giggled at the particularly dirty line in his book but then realized that he was currently in front of his students and, well, it wasn't the most appropriate time to be reading a porn book.

But when did Kakashi ever care where he was when reading his porn?

He cleared his throat and straightened up to face his students once more.

"You're not obligated to take this exam. You're not required to do this if you're not comfortable with the possibility of dying. However, this is a prerequisite to becoming a 2nd tier fighter. And lastly, if one of you decides not to then none of you can join the competition unless you can find another teammate before you leave.

"You don't have to sign up for the competition until you leave so that gives you plenty of time to think about it. That's that. I'll see you guys later." And with that Kakashi had poofed into a cloud of smoke.

Sasuke and Naruto both looked at each other. They both knew that the only reason they had come to this school was to win this competition. They looked back at Sakura who seemed to be lost in her thoughts.

Would Sakura ruin it for them?

* * *

Sorry if this story his going a bit fast at the moment. It will definitely slow down soon enough. I just already know this is going to be a long fic and I don't want to drag it out even longer. Unless, yknow, you guys _want_ that.

I also failed to mention that this is an alternate universe but it's more of a futuristic type of Naruto since it's still set in the same world and many of the same 'jutsus' and techniques are used. They're just called different things. But there's a reason for that! And it will be explained later.

I also forgot to add a disclaimer to the first two chapters. Oops. Well it's obvious I don't own Naruto or else it'd be a mess like this is.


	5. We're Good At Being Troubled

**Master of the Arts**

 **Arc 1** : Settling In Part 4

 **Chapter 5: We're Good At Being Troubled**

 **Summary:** After Naruto and Sakura lose their best friend, they go to extreme measures to get him back. Shikamaru tries too hard to reach into Neji's past and ends up uncovering secrets about himself along the way. Remember kids, everything is connected and it all leads back to the man who started it all. This is a journey for everyone to bring back the people they love.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. Wish I did though :/

I didn't proof read this so there's probably a bunch of mistakes everywhere which! I will definitely get to fixing later. Anyway here's a cute filler-y chapter with your faves interacting before we get into the really heavy exam stuff!

* * *

Sasuke had a hard time falling asleep the night before due to his roommate's terrible sleeping habits that kept him up until 2 in the goddamn morning. Sasuke was a pretty deep sleeper and usually went to bed before Naruto so he usually didn't have to deal with this shit but he was working on a project for Strategics class and had to stay at the library until it closed. By the time he came back Naruto was already sleeping- which was pretty rare since it wasn't that late at night.

First it was the god awful snoring that Sasuke had not gotten used to since they moved in together. Last night, though, had been much worse and not at all like any other previous night.

Next was the talking in his sleep. The loudmouth apparently didn't get enough off his chest during the day and had to continue talking at night, too. This drove Sasuke up the wall.

But it didn't stop there- _noo._ Naruto sang in his sleep. He fucking sang. They were different melodies and tunes but each had the same exact lyrics. 'I love ramen.'

What the _fuck._

Sasuke had walked over to Naruto's bed with a pillow, ready to strangle him, more than once. But before Sasuke did anything that could potentially put him in jail (although he was sure he'd be doing everyone a favor by getting rid of the headache inducing blonde) he grabbed his blanket and pillow and slept on the couch instead.

Now Sasuke is one for high quality furniture and the sort and the couch he had slept on was in fact high quality leather. But comfort always won over quality.

And boy had that couch been uncomfortable to sleep on.

Sasuke sighed and blinked a couple of times. Once he deemed himself awake enough he slowly reached over to the coffee table and took his phone in his hand. He pressed the home button and read the time.

October 31st - 9:00 a.m.

It was Saturday, the last day of October, and since Sasuke did not fall asleep until early morning he allowed himself a few extra hours of sleep. He slowly sat up and stretched the rest of his sleepiness away.

Sasuke could faintly hear snoring through the wall and it amazed him how Naruto could sleep through his own snoring. Sasuke opened the door to the bedroom and went into the bathroom to brush his teeth. As he was brushing his teeth he noticed a scar on his neck and recalled a few years ago when he and Naruto had gotten angry at each other. They got so out of control that they had to go to detention that day. It was Sasuke's first detention and he could still vaguely remember how furious he had been with Naruto- not just for getting a detention but for the scar, too. He refused to speak with Naruto for over a week.

Sasuke smirked at the memory. Things haven't really changed between the two over the years.

After brushing his teeth, Sasuke decided to be lazy- he deserved it- and kept his pajamas on. He walked back into the living room, closing the bedroom door behind him. Up until now the kitchen was still unused so Sasuke decided to make use of it.

He turned the stove on and decided to make some eggs and bacon, enough for two people. There were a few grocery stores on campus and Sasuke remembered to buy some food for a day like this.

He made sure to make more for Naruto since Naruto _was_ a heavy eater. He didn't understand why he was being generous after what Naruto, albeit unintentionally, did to him last night.

Sasuke didn't dwell on it for too long. He deserved to take a break from thinking, too.

He began to sing a tune while he prepared the dining table and cleaned the pans in the sink.

"Mmn, you're a good singer, Sasuke."

Sasuke froze for a moment and turned around to be faced with Naruto leaning on the wall. Naruto was rubbing his eyes and yawning and Sasuke briefly wondered if sleepwalking was another one of his nightly skills.

"Imn gunna go n brush mm teef." Sasuke could barely make out what the blonde had said and nodded. Minutes later Naruto came out looking much more awake, energetic and more like his usual self. "You never striked me as the cooking type," Naruto said as he sat himself down at the dining table. He took a bit of his bacon and grinned after swallowing. "Didn't expect you to be good at it, either."

"Hn. It's one more thing I can do much better than you." Sasuke sat across from Naruto and started eating his well cooked meal.

Naruto pouted but didn't say a word while he enjoyed the breakfast made by his roommate. "Hey, I think I have more than you."

"I did that on purpose, dobe."

"What? Why?" Naruto gulped down his orange juice and looked at Sasuke through the glass.

Sasuke shrugged. "You eat a lot more than I do. I thought you'd appreciate it. A thanks would be nice."

Naruto put down his glass and widened his eyes. "Oh, um, thank you." Naruto sheepishly rubbed the back of his head.

Was that a blush? Naruto's cheeks had tinted a bit pink and it made Sasuke a bit uncomfortable to say the least.

"Whatever. You have to clean the plates though." Sasuke stood up and put his dirty dishes in the sink. "Hey that's not fair," Naruto argued.

"I made the food, dobe. That's the least you could do." Naruto stared up at him for a second and sighed in resignation. " _Fine_."

"I'm going to take a shower," Sasuke said without waiting for a reply and walked into the bedroom, swiftly shutting the door.

He grabbed some nicer looking clothes than he usually wore on a regular day and walked into the bathroom. For some reason Sasuke had the strange urge to wear something better when Naruto walked into the kitchen.

Today was officially declared No Thinking Saturday in Sasuke's head so he didn't think too much of it.

He closed the bathroom door and turned on the shower. He took his clothes off and waited for the water to get warm before stepping inside. It felt nice. Sasuke had forgotten to turn the heater up last night so it was a bit cold. The coldness soon went away and all Sasuke felt was warmth and the overwhelming urge to sleep again but fought against it.

He had some errands to run- _yes_ , Sasuke had _errands_ \- and couldn't afford to waste time just a week before they were off to the competition. He needed to make the most of his last week here. It may be the last week Sasuke ever had a warm bed, or couch if needed, to sleep on for a long time.

Sasuke smirked.

Nah, he was going to win the competition with his team, kill Itachi and be right back here with Naruto enjoying the rest of his college years together.

Well, at least, that's what Sasuke had thought.

* * *

Seeing Sasuke look so domestic and in place while he was cooking somewhat disturbed Naruto. Sasuke almost looked _too_ natural. It made Naruto feel a strange emotion he never felt before. Or maybe he was just blinded by his hunger. He _did_ have a few weird dreams about singing bowls of ramen.

At some time during the night Naruto had woken up and noticed Sasuke's strange disappearance. When he found Sasuke sleeping on the couch he felt kinda bad knowing that it was probably his fault that Sasuke was there. Naruto had to admit- he _was_ a loud snorer and a blabber in his sleep. But it had never been a problem to Sasuke until then so it must have been much worse last night.

But seeing Sasuke stand there and hum- Sasuke had a very smooth singing voice by the way- as if it was his natural element made his stomach tingle and Naruto just stood there frozen for awhile before actually saying anything.

Breakfast tasted good and it kinda made Naruto jealous that Sasuke was even better than him at cooking. Naruto could barely make cup ramen correctly without setting the kitchen on fire.

Naruto sighed and curled up on the couch while he waited for his turn to take a shower.

Naruto had been more than a little skeptical when they had first moved in together but now sharing a room with Sasuke was becoming really comfortable and Naruto had no idea _why_.

Naruto decided against thinking about it too much and stood up to turn the heater on because damn it was cold in there. Naruto plopped himself on the ottoman and rubbed his arms in attempt for more warmth.

Maybe it was because he and Sasuke were basically friends? They've known each other for a long time and could help each other with homework, even though it was more Sasuke helping Naruto, and it brought them closer than ever before. Maybe this dorm was what they needed to repair their slightly broken friendship after what happened on the last day of high school.

Ugh.

Well there goes not thinking about it too much.

Naruto slouched back and groaned. Why did he punish himself like this? The answer was probably very simple but his stupid brain decided not to work today.

He shut his eyes and concentrated on figuring out what made him feel this way. After all those years of tormenting from Sasuke, although Sasuke still tormented him but in a more playful kind of way, it was really fascinating to see this new side of Sasuke. Or maybe it wasn't so new as it was hidden, since Sasuke wasn't one to show emotions since it made him _vulnerable_.

That really irked Naruto for some reason. Sasuke constantly berated him for being too emotionally vulnerable but then what was the point of life if you were just gloomy all the time?

"You look stupid like that, dobe."

"Ack!" Naruto screeched and tipped over the ottoman enough for it to fall over forcing his head to hit the floor with an audible thump.

In the process of… whatever that was, the leg of the ottoman caught onto Sasuke's jeans bringing him down with it and on top of Naruto.

Sasuke silently cursed his reflexes for disappearing on him during the most crucial of times.

"You fucking dobe! What the hell was that?!"

"What was tha…." Naruto groaned and rubbed the back of his throbbing head before continuing. "What do you mean _what was that?_! Why would you sneak up on me like that teme?!"

"I didn't think you'd freak out that much."

"Well, just get off of me."

Sasuke froze suddenly realizing what position they were in. He was straddling Naruto and hovering over him with his hands on either side of the dobe's head.

"Tch." Sasuke ungracefully rolled off of Naruto and onto his back to look at the ceiling while he rubbed a hand over his face.

Naruto quickly got up to grab some ice from fridge. "That's gonna bruise, Sasuke," he whined when he came back with a bag of ice resting held to his head.

Sasuke looked away suddenly feeling embarrassed. "...Sorry."

Naruto's shock must have shown on his face because the next thing Sasuke said was, "Oh don't look so surprised, dobe. I can apologize like normal people, too." Sasuke stood up and brushed the imaginary dust off his pants.

"Um… Thanks, Sasuke. It's okay. I know you didn't mean to do that. .. And wait, did you just basically state that you're… _not_ normal?" Naruto smirked.

"You know what I meant."

Naruto ignored what Sasuke said and continued with his shenanigans. "I mean it's not _that_ surprising. Sasuke not being a normal person actually seems more probable than him really being a normal human being… with _actual_ emotions and feelings."

For a few minutes Naruto kept going on about how possible it was that Sasuke was just an alien from a different planet while simultaneously pretending that Sasuke wasn't currently in the same room with him.

"That's the last time I ever try apologize to someone," Sasuke told Naruto before slamming the door and disappearing into the hallway.

Sasuke could hear Naruto's obnoxious laughter until he reached the elevator.

* * *

"Ne, Sasuke?" Naruto sat down on the couch and looked over Sasuke's shoulder down at the book he was currently reading.

It was noon and Naruto had just come back from eating at a new ramen shop on campus called Ichiraku's Ramen.

Naruto pouted when he realized Sasuke was ignoring him. "You know I was just kidding about earlier, right?"

When Sasuke didn't answer him he poked his shoulder and whined, "C'mon, Sasukeee."

Sasuke flipped a page.

The angered Naruto and so he rested his back on the arm of the couch. Before Sasuke could react he kicked the book out of his hands and replaced it with his legs, resting his feet on the opposite couch arm.

"Dobe! What the hell is wrong with you today?!"

"Did I capture your undivided attention?"

"If I find that my book is broken you're going to pay for it."

"Yeah yeah, okay, but I have your attention now. _Right_?"

Sasuke sighed and figured that whatever crap Naruto had to say wasn't worth losing his temper over so he let the blonde speak.

"So there's a halloween par-"

"No."

"You didn't even let me finish!"

Sasuke reached over to grab his cup of coffee on the coffee table. "If you're trying to get me to go to that dumb halloween party then the answer is no." He took a sip of his coffee.

"But, Sasuke! There's going to be food, drink, and tons of hot girls." Naruto nudged Sasuke with his knee and repeatedly raised his eyebrows.

Sasuke took his lips off of his cup to answer. "No." He took another sip.

"Sasuke, are you gay?"

Sasuke choked on his coffee which caused him to spill some on his wrist. It burned him but that wasn't important to Sasuke as he looked at the blonde like he had two heads.

"I'm just asking. No need to get offended. There's nothing wrong with being gay." Naruto shrugged.

" _No_ , I'm _not_ gay. I never said there was anything bad about being gay and I'm not offen-" Sasuke shook his head and took a deep breath. "Why would you think I'm gay?"

"Well you don't really care about girls and never go out on dates."

"Naruto, this may come as a surprise to someone as dense as you, but if you haven't noticed; I don't care about anyone. Not just girls."

Naruto pouted, crossing his arms and looking at the tv that was currently turned off. "Whatever."

"Are you gay?"

"What?! No!" Naruto looked appalled.

"Now who's the one getting offended?"

"I'm not offended I'm just- you _know_ I like Sakura!"

"You mean you're infatuated with her?"

"Shut up Sasuke!"

Sasuke smirked and felt as if he won their nonexistent contest. "Are you done importuning me now, dobe?"

"Psh, whatever. Forget I ever asked you anything!"

"Gladly."

Sasuke shoved Naruto's legs away and went to inspect the fallen book. After confirming that the book was still okay, he tucked it under his arm and walked out of the room for the second time that day.

* * *

It was late at night and Ino had somehow managed to drag Shikamaru to the troublesome halloween party. Upon arriving there, Shikamaru immediately found a way to run away from Ino and escape the party. After leaving the party he found himself wandering until he snuck off campus and into the large forest nearby.

He quietly walked careful not to disturb any animals and eventually reached a beautiful pond. Shikamaru froze. There was a huge evergreen tree smack dab in the middle of the pond.

But the sight of the tree wasn't what made Shikamaru stop in his tracks.

It was the sight of a certain Hyūga who looked to be meditating right by the pond. The moonlight seemed to shine right down on him and made him look all the more… handsome.

Shikamaru couldn't lie, he knew Neji was handsome. The Nara just couldn't believe _he'd_ be the one thinking it.

After a few minutes of staring Shikamaru faintly heard someone speak.

"Enjoying the view, Nara?"

"Very much so, Hyūga."

This seemed to catch Neji off guard as he immediately opened his eyes to look at Shikamaru.

Shikamaru just shrugged and pointed behind him. Neji narrowed his eyes but turned around anyway and looked at the huge tree before turning back to face Shikamaru.

Shikamaru internally sighed and hoped that Neji thought that he had been talking about the tree.

Shikamaru was ashamed to admit that he was actually talking about the man in front of him.

After a few moments of staring at each other, Neji said, "Hn," and closed his eyes to continue his meditating. Shikamaru took that as an invitation- even though he was sure it wasn't- to sit next to the Hyūga.

He mentally noted that Neji slightly stiffened as soon as he heard the crunching of leaves indication that Shikamaru was walking toward him. Shikamaru sat down and closed his eyes, too.

It had been a peaceful few minutes before anyone said anything.

"What brings you here, Shikamaru?"

Said man's lips turned down for a brief moment at the use of his first name but otherwise said nothing about it. "Ino dragged me and Chouji down to the Halloween party so I ran away."

"You ran away?"

"That's what I said."

They sat there in a slightly uncomfortable silence until Shikamaru spoke up. "Why aren't you at the Halloween party? I mean, you don't exactly look like Mr. Party Guy but I just thought Lee and Gai would have forced you down there."

"I'm preparing myself."

"For the MOAs?"

"Hn."

Shikamaru sighed. "You don't think it's a little cold to be doing that right now? Haven't you practiced enough?"

"There's no such thing as too much practice and we'll be dealing with much worse weather conditions on the Road of Survival."

 _Crap!_

"Judging from the look on your face you seem to have forgotten what time of the year it is. The administrators can manipulate weather, too."

Shikamaru had completely forgotten about that!It was almost November which meant snow, freezing rain, and other horrifying winter weather. They had to _deal_ with that and any other horrible weather conditions that the administrators decided on.

Shikamaru opened eyes to be met with two more moons… no, a pair of Hyūga eyes staring at him intently.

"Here I thought you were a genius." The Hyūga smirked which caused the Nara to roll his eyes, but Shikamaru made another mental note that the simple emotion failed to reach Neji's eyes.

Shikamaru laid down and leaned on his arms to stare up at the stars. There were no clouds and it was quite a beautiful night. He looked at Neji from the corner of his eyes and saw that he was also looked up at the sky.

They stayed there like that for a while until something in Shikamaru's pants started ringing. Realizing it was his phone, he sat up and looked at the screen that read _1 new text message_.

He unlocked his phone and read a very angry text… with a lot of colorful language from his charming teammate.

"Troublesome..," he muttered under his breath which Neji must've heard because he gaves a questioning "Hn?".

"Ino found out I left the party and is threatening to tell everyone at the party a little secret of mine." He really hated her sometimes.

"Then you'd best be on your way, Nara."

Shikamaru lowered his eyes. Did Neji want him gone? He turned back to Neji and saw that he was already back in his meditative trance. Shikamaru inwardly sighed and got up to leave.

"Don't overdo it," was the last thing Shikamaru said before disappearing off into the woods.

* * *

Sasuke heard a knock on the door. "It's open," he called out.

"I can't open it! The door knob's smooving on s'own," the voice on the other side replied. Sasuke slowly walked over to the door and hesitantly opened it. He was rewarded with his drunken idiot of a roommate stumbling in and falling face first onto the floor.

"Tough crowd," he said, voice muffled.

"What now, dobe?"

"I'm drunk," Naruto giggled as he sat himself upright. "No shit," Sasuke replied, irritated. " _Why_?"

"Kiba snuck some sake into the party."

Sasuke was at his wits end.

"Carry me, Sasuke!" Naruto reached his arms out expecting his roommate to carry him to their bedroom.

"No."

"Buuuuut Sasukeeeeeeee!"

In a fit of anger Sasuke grabbed Naruto by his collar and pulled him up. As Naruto was pulled up he tripped over his own shoe and started to fall. To avoid a repeat of what happened earlier that morning Sasuke brought his knee up which caused Naruto's… groin area to harshly rub against it.

And Naruto _mewled_.

"You don't have to be so rough, Sasuke," he whined, not feeling so intoxicated anymore, with a faint blush on his cheeks.

Sasuke was so shocked that he hadn't heard what Naruto said and let go of his collar… Which instead accelerated his fall. Sasuke leaned back against the door and caught his more than slightly intoxicated roommate in his arms.

Inhale.

Exhale.

After a few moments in this uncomfortable position, Sasuke picked Naruto up and pulled him over his shoulder.

Entering the bedroom, Sasuke threw Naruto onto his bed.

"What did I say about being rough, Sasuke!" Naruto tightly gripped his arm causing Sasuke to hiss in pain.

Naruto must have thought something different because his entire face turned beet red. "Sasuke, what wa-"

"Nothing."

Sasuke walked out of the room and slammed the door. He made himself comfortable on the couch before finally dropping his face in his hands and groaning.

He was going to _kill_ Kiba.

And maybe Naruto, too.


	6. Doubt

**Master of the Arts**

 **(Minor) Arc 2** : Preparation Part 1

 **Chapter 6: Doubt.**

 **Summary:** After Naruto and Sakura lose their best friend, they go to extreme measures to get him back. Shikamaru tries too hard to reach into Neji's past and ends up uncovering secrets about himself along the way. Remember kids, everything is connected and it all leads back to the man who started it all. This is a journey for everyone to bring back the people they love.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto.

Um um this is really _really_ short and the next chapter will probably be short as well, but... After that, the action begins and hoo boy am I excited for that! (and maybe even a lil' bit terrified).

* * *

"Mm, Sasuke?"

"What dobe?"

"Why are you," yawn, "in my tent?"

"I'm not in your tent. Just go back to sleep."

"But Sasukeee."

"What?!"

"You're sleeping right next to me."

Sasuke's eyes quickly shot open and were met with the blue pair of eyes from his teammate.

"What the hell are you doing in _my_ tent, dumbass?"

Naruto stared back for a moment before laughing nervously. "I must have… um. went into the wrong tent after taking a, uh, bathroom break last night."

"Get out."

"But it's warm Sas-"

" _Get out_ ," Sasuke practically growled. Naruto's hands went up as he hurriedly tried to mitigate the situation. "Okay okay, I get it, calm down," he stammered and quickly shuffled out of the tent.

Sasuke and Naruto had both agreed to staying on the training grounds to get some more last minute sparring practice so that they could use the last few days to prepare for the competition.

But ever since Naruto came home drunk from that party a few days ago… well… their relationship had been more than a little strained.

Sasuke would avert his eyes whenever the blonde was in close proximity and essentially just ignore Naruto whenever he tried to strike up a conversation.

This annoyed Naruto to no end. He hadn't a single clue what Sasuke's problem was and it was driving him nuts! Naruto couldn't remember what happened on the night of the party and when he tried to ask Sasuke, the emo bastard would just shrug it off as 'not a big deal'.

But it was a fucking _big deal_ to Naruto since Sasuke still somehow made him feel responsible for it.

Naruto was the victim this time!

How could Naruto apologize for something that he didn't even know he did?!

 _Stupid, grumpy Sasuke-teme._

Naruto took his sneakers off and dipped his feet into the pond he found earlier while walking around trying to get his mind off of Sasuke.

That obviously didn't work.

He leaned back on his hands and looked up at the sky. It was a pretty day today. It was neither cold nor hot which, to Naruto, was a perfect temperature.

"Dobe!" Naruto heard Sasuke call out from somewhere in the forest. "I'm by the pond!" he shouted back.

Sasuke soon found his way to the pond and also placed his feet in the cold pond water. "Why'd you run off?" he absentmindedly asked.

Naruto gave him a 'really?' look and said, "Oh boy, I don't know. Maybe because you were about to lose your cool? I'm just takin' a guess here," he said sarcastically.

Sasuke took a deep breath. "Look, dobe," he replied, "I've just been a little bit on the edge since it's almost time to leave. It has _nothing_ to do with what you think."

Naruto ignored him and asked, "Did I say something weird to you that night?"

"What did I just say, dobe?" Sasuke hissed back.

Naruto shrugged.

"You know what? I don't have time to deal with this with, what? Only 3 days left until we leave? Grow up, Naruto," Sasuke snapped.

"Me?" Naruto said incredulously and looked behind him to make sure Sasuke wasn't talking to some _other_ Naruto. Naruto looked back at Sasuke. who had already stood up, and pointed a finger at his chest. Notably his middle finger.

"You're telling _me_ to grow up when you won't even tell me what I did wrong! Sasuke, what the hell?" Naruto stood up and gestured unceremoniously.

But what Sasuke had done next was nowhere near what Naruto had expected Sasuke to do. _Ever_.

Sasuke walked up to Naruto, firmly placed his hand on both of his shoulders and pulled him in.

Not for a hug.

But for a kiss.

...It was not at all unpleasant and Naruto wasn't so sure that he disliked it either.

* * *

Sakura looked up at the bright blue sky and deeply sighed.

 _What do I do?_

She had less than a week to figure out whether she wanted to stay in the competition or back out.

"Of course I wanna stay in the competition!" she had said to the boys who looked at her questioningly that day when Kakashi told them they weren't obligated to take the exams.

And Sakura was 99% sure she wanted to stay in the competition. But then days went by, then weeks, then months, and now it was already November and the scheduled time to leave for the competition was this week.

And Sakura was more than a little doubtful.

She wasn't feeling apprehensive… okay maybe she _did_ have some qualms about the future. She wasn't so much worried about dying than worried about not being an asset to her team. Yeah she was strong and pretty damn sick at kickboxing, if she did say so herself, but Sasuke and Naruto outmatched her in basically everything else.

But if she wanted to be a help to her team she'd have to go with them, right? She'd wasted too much time thinking about leaving that if she were to actually leave then Sasuke and Naruto would be without a partner unless they could find one in only a few days… and even that was impossible for the almighty Sasuke and Naruto.

So here she was. Stuck. Not just figuratively but literally stuck outside because her pig (or best friend as she liked to call- _oink_ \- herself) roommate locked her out on the balcony in their shared living space.

"Are you done sulking, forehead?" called her self declared best friend.

"I'm not sulking, pig."

"Then have you made up your mind?"

"...Not yet."

"I'm not letting you in."

"But _Ino_ ," Sakura pleaded. Ino sighed and unlocked the door to walk onto the balcony beside her roommate. "Sakura, why are you being like this?"

"Like what?" Sakura requested, genuinely confused.

"Like a wimp! You've never been like this before and I don't think you'd have to start now."

"I'm not a wimp," Sakura sighed. "I'm just… I don't know… You know what I'm saying?"

"You don't even know what you're saying, forehead." Ino gave Sakura a comforting pat on the back. "The boys don't think you're a burden to their team."

"How do you know?"

"I just _know_ okay? Can you at least trust me when I say you're going to be completely fine? And if you're not at stage 2 by the time I get there who am I going to get into pointless arguments with?"

Sakura giggled and Ino smiled feeling proud of herself for cheering her best friend up. "Besides, don't you wanna show the other teams who the _baddest bitch_ is?"

Sakura grinned and clenched her fist. "Hell yeah."

"Show them no mercy!"

"Shannaro!" Sakura cried out and ran back into the living room closing the door behind her.

"Sakura wait-" the door locked.

Ino stood there clueless for a moment before her mood dangerously took a turn for the worst and she started yelling colorful profanities at the pink haired girl in front of her.

Sakura just shrugged. "You said to show them no mercy so…. I'm starting with you!" Sakura cheered, giving Ino a big _haha in your face_ thumbs up and ran away before Ino found a way to break the glass.

* * *

After Sasuke had randomly kissed him out of the blue he immediately fled leaving an incredibly bewildered Naruto behind.

All that Naruto kept thinking was _What the fuck what the fuck what the fuck._

Naruto wasn't too sure when he finally regained his composure but it must have been a while since the mud on his feet was already dry and cracking.

"Shit," he muttered to himself.

Naruto decided to just forget about it- he was doing a _lot_ of forgetting lately- and just move on.

Naruto grabbed his shoes and went back to where they had set up camp.

While cleaning up _his_ stuff- he wasn't going to clean up the bastard's stuff 'cause he was mad at him- his mind started to wonder.

Or maybe he wouldn't forget about it… which is something else his mind had been doing a lot lately, too.

Did he like Sasuke?

 _Lol_ , Naruto thought to himself (no, really, he actually said lol in his head), _what am I thinking? Stupid brain._

He gave his head a playful slap and came to the conclusion that he was doing _too_ much thinking lately.

Naruto packed all of his stuff into his bag and began his trek to his dorm room.

He'd worry about this later when Sasuke got back home.

 _Home, hm?_

* * *

Sasuke was mildly amused at the expression on the dobe's face right after he kissed him. It wasn't a gentle kiss _either_. But once realization of what he actually did dawned upon him he immediately fled and cursed himself for being so foolish.

What the _hell_ had he done?

He just went all out without thinking clearly and Sasuke was really starting to wonder if his imbecile of a roommate was rubbing off on him.

Sasuke _always_ thought before he acted and what he just did certainly was not thought out.

After what happened on Halloween, Sasuke, well, didn't really have a clue what to say to Naruto. Sasuke had been simpleminded to think that Naruto mewling, whimpering, and _whining_ had to do with him liking Sasuke.

Sasuke silently berated himself afterwards for thinking of something so stupid. Really? Naruto having feelings for him? Sasuke had briefly wondered if _he_ was the intoxicated one that night.

Really, he needed to chill the fuck out. Naruto was _drunk_. Anyone could have acted like him if they were _that_ inebriated. Completely filled with disbelief that day, Sasuke made up his mind to ignore the blonde for as long as he could get away with it.

Which had obviously not been a long time since Halloween had only been 4 days ago. Sitting down, Sasuke silently chastised himself once more when he realized that his foolishness would affect their teamwork during the competition.

So Sasuke decided that he had to settle this once and for all before the exams started.


	7. The End of the Beginning

**Master of the Arts**

 **(Minor) Arc 2** : Preparation Part 2

 **Chapter 7: The End of the Beginning**

 **Summary:** After Naruto and Sakura lose their best friend, they go to extreme measures to get him back. Shikamaru tries too hard to reach into Neji's past and ends up uncovering secrets about himself along the way. Remember kids, everything is connected and it all leads back to the man who started it all. This is a journey for everyone to bring back the people they love.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. :(

Another short chapter but things are going to take off from here! Enjoy.

* * *

Sasuke told himself he'd fix things with Naruto.

And that's what he had been planning to do… until he stepped inside an invisible barrier that permanently trapped him inside.

Surely, Sasuke _should_ have been able to escape such an _amateur_ trap like this. It was basically child's play. But of course he'd been too busy trying to figure out a solution to his and Naruto's problem.

Sasuke concluded that this was indirectly Naruto's fault. It was somehow always Naruto's fault anyway.

Sitting back against an overgrown tree root, he considered his options.

He didn't really have any.

Sasuke left his phone at camp when he went to search for a missing dobe. Calling for help was ruled out.

Although it wasn't as if Sasuke would've called for help either way. That was _embarrassing_ and Naruto would never shut up about how _the_ omnipotent Sasuke was cornered.

Sasuke tried to break the invisible barrier using a shuriken. Nevertheless, it just bounced right back at him and continuously bounced off the walls until it lost momentum and fell to the ground.

This barricade was secure and Sasuke was locked inside.

But that wasn't what was concerning him the most.

Somehow, being caged in this confinement made it impossible for Sasuke to use his nature power which, as stated in the name, relied on nature. Not being able to acquire power from the earth meant that any fire-based attacks were useless.

Activating his sharingan, Sasuke scanned the now visible walls for any cracks or holes that he could use to his advantage. Noticing a pattern in the design of the walls, Sasuke remembered what type of trap this was.

It was a simple, easily avoidable trap but once you were caught inside it was futile to try and escape. These types of traps took hours to create because of the amount of power it used.

Of course, though, it wouldn't be able to withstand the Uchiha's incredible power. _Nothing_ was invincible before the great Uchiha clan. Sasuke smirked and called forth his sacred power.

Blue smoke enveloped Sasuke's hands and he punched the walls repeatedly for a short few seconds. Releasing the energy back into the air, Sasuke looked at the wall expectantly.

What he saw was _not_ what he hoped for. His smirk dropped as he watched the wall absor his power, showing that no damage was done.

This wasn't right. There was nothing that could resist his blue smoke attack (he had yet to name it) besides, maybe, Naruto, but that wasn't the problem at hand. No barrier was this strong. Something was going on and Sasuke had a bad feeling about it.

Using the power boost he received from his sharingan, he took out a kunai and threw it with all his might at the wall. The kunai stuck to the wall for a brief second then was absorbed into a pool of nothingness.

"What the hell?"

Sasuke just stood there in total disbelief. What the heck had just happened?

"Sasuke-teme! There you are!"

Sasuke spun around to see Naruto running and waving at him, a big lopsided grin on his annoying face.

* * *

After Naruto finally got home, took a shower, and ate breakfast, he curled up in a blanket on the couch and watched some old school musicals. He really didn't like musicals that much but after getting comfortable on the couch he didn't want to get up and look for the remote. Thanks to that, he now had a bunch of songs stuck in his head. It was annoying.

Naruto checked the clock and noticed that it was already half past noon and Sasuke _still_ wasn't home yet.

Naruto's thoughts came to a halt as he realized that he just thought of their dorm room as… _home_.

It wasn't weird, was it? Calling their dorm his home? They've lived there for over two months now and it really _did_ feel like home… just with the added bonus of a Sasuke-teme.

Naruto had tacitly accepted that he and Sasuke would be roommates for a long time. He didn't even bother going to Tsunade to try and change dorms anymore. But it scared Naruto that he had accepted it so _easily_ with little to no thought about how strange it was that he was now sharing a room with his horribly perfect rival. It's not as if they weren't rivals anymore- they still had the occasional fight and argument here and there.

Yet, they were becoming more and more like… real friends. It kinda felt good knowing that they were on the right track after being horrible enemies in the past.

Naruto heavily sighed. He really had to fix their problem now. He'd rather just apologize and let the situation diffuse instead of making it worse by talking about it. Even if talking about it could potentially result in a better outcome.

Now noticing that it was 15 minutes to 1, Naruto stood up and pulled his jacket on to search wherever the hell Sasuke had disappeared to.

Walking back to camp, Naruto saw that Sasuke's belongings were still scattered about.

Hm? Two hours had already gone by and Sasuke was still out there sulking in the woods? We couldn't have that, _now_ , could we?

Deciding that searching from higher ground would be easier, Naruto leaped up onto a tree branch and scanned as far back as he could see.

He frowned and continued leaping from branch to branch until he saw the familiar duck-butt hairstyle down below. Dropping down to the ground, Naruto made his way over to the teme whose back was facing him.

"Sasuke-teme!" He called out, waving his arm and grinning, "There you are!"

Sasuke turned around and looked at him but otherwise didn't move. Naruto's eyes comically widened.

"Why is your sharingan activated, Sasuke?"

"Can't you see these walls?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto looked around, turning a full 360 before turning back to his roommate. "What walls?"

"Oh, that's right," Sasuke answered, "you can't see them because you don't have the sharingan."

Was that an insult? Naruto shrugged it off.

"Dobe, are you listening?"

"Ah, sorry. What'd you say?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes but continued anyway. "I'm… stuck inside these invisible walls."

"Invisible walls?" Naruto frowned. "Where?"

"Try to walk next to me."

"Okay." Naruto walked up to Sasuke and stood next to him. "Now what?" He asked expectantly.

"What the hell?" Sasuke asked.

Naruto blinked slowly. "What?"

"How are you in here? I'm trapped inside this barrier."

"Sasuke, there is no barrier. C'mon, let's just go home. You're probably tired or something." Naruto took Sasuke's arms to drag him away but stopped when he noticed Sasuke wouldn't budge no matter how hard he pulled. "Sasuke just come on already!"

"I can't fucking move, you dobe!" Sasuke hissed.

"What?" Naruto walked behind Sasuke and pushed forward. When he didn't move, Naruto took his head and pushed it forward until it met an invisible force stopping it from going any further.

"What the hell? Sasuke what's going on?"

" _Naruto_ ," Sasuke growled, "I literally just said that I was _stuck in an invisible barrier_. Listen for once, would you?"

"I was listening! I just thought you were joking!" Naruto stepped in front of Sasuke to try and observe the invisible wall.

"How on earth would that be considered a joke?"

"In your twisted mind it could have," Naruto mumbled.

"If I weren't stuck here you'd be dead by now."

"Hehe, well you can't catch me now! But how'd you even get stuck in this thing?" Naruto rubbed the small amount of stubble on his chin and looked walked around Sasuke a few times to try and get a hold of the situation.

"Oh gee, dobe, if I knew how I'd have gotten out by now."

"You don't know that."

"Naruto, you know I would have."

"...Yeah, probably. Have you tried jumping out?" Naruto tried to pick Sasuke up but his hands were slapped away and he pouted at Sasuke. "Rude. I was just trying to help."

"You've done enough _help_ , dobe. Yes, I've tried literally everything I could think of without using any nature power."

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Why didn't you use nature power? I'm sure a chidori would have blown this thing to smithereens."

Sasuke glared. "If you haven't noticed, I'm stuck inside a barrier that is currently cutting me off from the rest of the world so I can't use any nature power. It almost feels like I'm fading away right now, actually, which slightly disturbs me. All of my other attacks were absorbed. It might be absorbing me now, too."

"How can you say that so calmly, then?! We need to get you out of here, quickly!" Naruto shrieked.

"Shut up, dumbass, don't you think I know that? Try hitting it with rasengan."

Naruto gathered blue nature power into his hand before it swirled into a ball of wind and power combined. He ran forward and pushed it into the wall, only for it to be absorbed.

"... It… absorbed it."

"I have eyes, dobe."

"I know! I'm just _saying_. What do we do now?"

Sasuke sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know."

"The great and all powerful Sasuke is at a loss for words for once in his lifetime. Score!"

"This is _not_ the place, Naruto."

"Yeah, yeah. Sasuke, I just wanted to apologize for what happened earlier today. I didn't mean to make you so uncomfortable." Naruto scratched his head and looked at everything but his teammate trying not to seem nervous.

Sasuke took a deep breath and started, "You… You didn't make me uncomfortable. I'm sorry for kissing you without your consent. That was a jerk move."

Naruto blinked and then grinned. "Sasuke, you were born a jerk. Besides, that kiss.. wasn't so bad," Naruto said, getting quieter as he went and rubbed his cheek with his index finger.

Something stirred deep inside Sasuke but he chose to ignore it. "Want to forget about it and start fresh again?"

Naruto smiled, the emotion clearly showing in his eyes, and said, "Yeah, dattebayo!" Sasuke smiled back and deactivated his sharingan.

"Ah what a touching moment between two best friends."

Naruto jumped at the new voice and looked around to find the speaker.

* * *

"Uchiha Sasuke."

Sasuke looked up from where he currently stood and was taken aback by the figure wearing a black cloak. He could just barely see the huge lens the man had upon his face.

"Who are you?" Naruto narrowed his eyes.

The man ignored him and walked towards Sasuke.

"Are you the one who trapped Sasuke in there?" Naruto glared. The man turned around and looked at the kunai in Naruto's hand before smirking. Or at least it looked like he was smirking. "That won't be necessary," he said, gesturing to the kunai.

"Oh really?" Naruto asked before running up to the man, ready to injure him. But Sasuke already saw it coming.

"Stop it, Naruto!"

But it was already too late, the man in front of him took a sword, seemingly out of nowhere, and stabbed it through Naruto's chest.

"Naruto!"

Naruto coughed, blood sputtering from his mouth and wound, and fell back against the tree, now unconscious.

Sasuke whipped his head back to look at the man and growled. "How _dare_ you. I'm going to kill you."

"How naive," said the man as he continued walking back to Sasuke. "You're coming with me."

Sasuke activated his sharingan again but before he could do anything, he was knocked unconscious.

The mysterious man chuckled as he pulled Sasuke's body over his shoulder and said, "I hope Orochimaru-sama is pleased with this new fresh meat."

He then disappeared into the trees, leaving the unconscious Naruto on the ground in a pool of his own blood.

* * *

AH! I wonder who _that was_ :O

If any of you are wondering why Neji and Shikamaru aren't really making many appearances here it's most likely because there's probably going to be a lot of huge character arcs for them in the future if everything from my notes goes to plan so! If you don't like that, _don't read_.


	8. Open Your Eyes

**Master of the Arts**

 **Arc 3** : First Sasuke Retrieval Arc Part 1

 **Chapter 8: Open Your Eyes**

 **Summary:** After Naruto and Sakura lose their best friend, they go to extreme measures to get him back. Shikamaru tries too hard to reach into Neji's past and ends up uncovering secrets about himself along the way. Remember kids, everything is connected and it all leads back to the man who started it all. This is a journey for everyone to bring back the people they love.

 **Disclaimer:** I don't own Naruto. :(

* * *

"Naruto!"

 _What?_

"Can…. hear…!"

With sweat glistening on his forehead, Naruto slowly opened his eyes only to quickly shut them right after at the burning sensation in his head.

"He's…. Sakura… calm down."

 _Where am I?_

"Sasuke…. where… happened…"

Naruto tried to listen to the voices around him by turning his head but his lack of control

caused it to loll back.

"He'll… fine… Kakashi…here…"

When Naruto opened his mouth to speak, he started to cough and felt someone tip his head forward urging him to drink the glass of water placed at his lips.

He slowly drank the water and soon found himself fading to sleep.

Naruto woke up once more and slowly opened his eyes, the brightness of the hospital lights making it painful. He blinked the blurriness away and tried to sit up.

"Careful."

Someone placed their hand on his back and helped him properly sit up in the bed.

"S-Sakura-chan?"

"Don't talk. Here, drink more water." She handed the glass of water to Naruto but instead brought it to his lips when he made no move to hold it himself. Naruto took a small sip and asked, "What happened?"

Sakura frowned, her brow furrowing, and looked straight into Naruto's eyes. "You almost died. If it wasn't for that one student who was walking in the woods yesterday, who knows what could…"

Sakura took a deep, long breath before continuing. "Besides that, I know nothing. Naruto… you almost died from the loss of blood. What the hell hap-"

"Wait," Naruto interrupted her. "Yesterday? You mean… I've been asleep for a whole day?"

"No. It's 2 a.m., Naruto. So… maybe like 14 hours?"

"14 ho… 14 hours… 14… hours…" Naruto's breath hitched and he started to panic.

"...Naruto?"

"I need to get out of here." Naruto tried to get off of the bed but was stopped by his friend. "Don't move, Naruto! You were in critical condition less than 12 hours ago."

"No. No no no no no," Naruto repeated as he continuously shook his head. "Shit. Holy fucking shit. I'm- I- I need to get... leave, go."

"Naruto!" Sakura snapped. "Get a hold of yourself and tell me… Wait. I've been meaning to ask you… Where's Sasuke?"

Naruto slowly turned to Sakura, his eyes glistening with tears. " _They took him_ ," he mouthed to her. Sakura's eyes widened a fraction as she slowly understood what he meant.

"You don't mean.."

Naruto narrowed his eyes at her and put a finger over his lips.

"I _do_ mean. It was that guy that creepy guy with the glasses he-he… he stabbed me and took Sasuke away. It was _Orochimaru_ ," Naruto whispered.

Tears began to pool at the corner of her eyes as Sakura stood up and paced around the room trying to get a hold of the current situation.

Orochimaru was one of this school's alumni until he stole official documents from the school and ran off. It was predicted that he was planning on conquering all of the great lands but he has been in hiding for the past 15 years. After a mission it was revealed that he had a genius right hand man with huge glasses and Orochimaru made no attempt to hide this fact.. Even before the Uchiha clan massacre, he always had an obsession with them. Kidnapped Sasuke was not as much of a surprise now that Naruto thought it through.

"I-We need to get him back… We… We," Naruto looked up in the corner of the room at the security cameras and scowled. "You _cannot_ let Tsunade know about this… You _know_ what will happen."

Sakura stopped pacing and looked at Naruto with disbelief clearly written on her face. "What the hell do you mean we can't tell Tsunade about this? She _needs_ to know- she has the _RIGHT_ to know."

"She won't let us join the competition if she finds out."

" _Join_ the competition? What crap are you spewing right now?! Sasuke has been _kidnapped_ , Naruto," Sakura gestured violently, "We _need_ Tsunade to get him back."

"You don't think I know that? But when we rescue Sasuke she won't let us go to the competition if Orochimaru is still out there!"

"Then we have people find him and kill him! The competition should be the last thing on your mind right now!"

Naruto looked up at the ceiling and shook his head. "You don't _get_ it, Sakura. What's the point of rescuing Sasuke if he can't join the competition?! And kill Orochimaru? If it were that simple he'd be dead years ago."

"What's the point? The point is getting Sasuke back before he's dead! Who cares about the competition?"

"Sasuke! Sasuke cares about the competition that he's worked his entire life for! Waiting another year- Sasuke _can't_ do that. He's- you know who he is. He'll do _anything_ to get Itachi back. We have to do this ourselves."

"Ourselves?! We'll get killed! Sasuke could be dead, rotting in one of Orochimaru's holding cells right now!"

"So that's the problem, hm?"

Naruto and Sakura's flushed faces quickly turned to the intruding voice.

 _Shizune. Crap._

"I'm telling Tsunade-sama about this and we are sending our best fighters effective immediately." She turned to leave before turning back and saying, "By the way, you guys sounded like an old married couple."

"You can't tell obaa-chan! She'll-"

Sakura slapped her hand over Naruto's mouth and continued his sentence, "handle it very well, _right, Naruto?_ " She glared at him and he backed off.

Shizune walked out and the two let out a breath they didn't know they were holding.

While Sakura regained her breath Naruto slowly edged toward the other end of the bed and slid off. Looking at Sakura one final time to make sure she her guard was down, he ran before Sakura could hold him down.

* * *

"No." Tsunade neatly folded her hands atop one another.

"But Tsunade-obaa-chan!" Naruto whined.

"I said no, Naruto! I am not letting you rescue Sasuke. You are injured and don't even stand a chance against Orochimaru. I am not letting you leave this campus and that's final. Don't worry, I'll have the best, and only the best, find him. But you do realize that if Orochimaru is still alive after we retrieve Sasuke… he won't be able to join the competition, understood?"

"But-"

"No buts. Understood?" Tsunade stared him down.

"Understood," Naruto muttered through clenched teeth and made his way out of the office.

Once confirming that Naruto was gone, Tsunade turned her head over to Shizune and said, "Have 8 fighters patrolling campus. Notify all teachers and staff that if they even _think_ Naruto is attempting to escape they have my permission to hold him in his room."

Shizune bowed and said, "Will do, Tsunade-sama."

* * *

Once Naruto reached his dorm room he quickly grabbed a small backpack. He packed food bars and pills, a new pack of kunai and shuriken, a few scrolls Jiraiya left him with, some basic first aid materials, and some fresh clothes.

He put his kohacad forehead protector on and stared at himself in the mirror. "I'll find you, Sasuke," he told his reflection.

Naruto slipped on his fighting shoes and looked out the window. He narrowed his eyes when he saw more guards than usual walking around, looking for something.

"They're looking for me," he whispered.

Naruto decided that the best course of action was to wait until evening. It would be easier to sneak around then.

* * *

After waiting a few hours for the sun to set, Naruto finally grabbed his stuff and braced himself for what awaited him.

Naruto stuffed a tranquilizer gun into his pocket and then opened the window. He climbed out and pulled himself onto the room. Squatting, he scanned the area for any… _enemies._

Yes, enemies. Anyone who would dare try and stop him from finding his friend would be declared his enemy.

Confirming that there was no one around, Naruto jumped down to the ground and quietly ran across the long field of grass. There were few trees around to conceal his presence so he had to make this trip quick. There was also only one way to exit campus without running into the wall. The front gates.

Naruto pulled himself up a tall tree and looked around. There were no guards at the gate.

 _Are they waiting for me?_

Naruto smirked. He wasn't going to give that angry blonde woman the satisfaction of capturing him.

Before Naruto could jump off, he was stopped by a hand on his shoulder. Naruto reacted fast and pulled a kunai out of his pouch to lodge into the enemy's neck but another hand held his in place.

He slowly turned his head and was met with green eyes. He frowned. "Don't try to stop me, Sakura-chan," he muttered.

Sakura just stood there for a moment before grinning. "Who said I was going to stop you, dummy?"

Naruto's eyes widened and he truly felt relieved for the first time that day. Smirking, he said, "Tsunade-obaa-chan had guards looking out for me earlier today but they backed off. Now there's no guards at the main gates. There's always guards at the main gates."

"It's a trap."

"No shit, sherlock."

"Don't play smart with me, Naruto. You know I can leave whenever I want to."

"And _I_ know you can't. You won't. You want Sasuke back just as much as I do and you're willing to do anything just. like. I. am."

Sakura rolled her eyes and ignored him. "So what do we do?"

"We just go."

"What?!" She silently screamed.

"If this is how Tsunade-obaa-chan wants to play, this is how we play."

Without waiting for a response, Naruto dashed toward the gates with a kunai in hand to ward off any attackers.

Sakura mentally yelled at her best friend for being so stupid and went after him.

Just as Naruto expected, four shuriken were aimed at his head and he knocked them off their path with his kunai.

"Mokuton: four pillar prison!" Before Naruto knew what was happening, he was trapped in a wooden cage. He was about to launch a rasengan when he heard Sakura scream. Panicking, he turned around and saw Sakura sitting down with her wrists and ankles tied by black snakes.

"That is foul play! Everyone knows I hate snakes!" She shouted.

Naruto gave her a lopsided grin as he realized the situation they were in. They were trapped.

"Nice try, you two," he heard a surprisingly relaxing voice say. "But you're not going anywhere yet."

"Yet?" Naruto asked. He turned to face the speaker and was met with a man with short, brown hair and huge black eyes.

"So this is the jinchuriki?" asked another colder voice that reminded him a bit of Sasuke.

The brown haired man made a few hand signs and the wooden cage crumbled down into shambles. "Sai," he said, "uncuff her please."

The man whose name was apparently 'Sai' nodded and the snakes disappeared. Sakura sighed and stopped freaking out.

Someone cleared their throat and then Naruto heard a third voice he recognized too well.

"You two didn't think I was going to let you leave without reinforcements, did you?" Tsunade asked.

"Reinforcements?" Sakura asked.

"Wait… You were going to let us leave?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"No, not at first," Tsunade sighed, "But Naruto has incredible healing capabilities. I was mostly worried about his health but… he looks fine to me now. That _and_ I found this and was reminded that you were capable enough to rescue that Uchiha brat. " She held up the necklace that she gave Naruto years ago and tied it around his neck. "I had to take it off during the surgery and I forgot to give it to you."

"Thanks Tsunade-obaa-chan!" Naruto gave her a huge blinding grin and her eyes softened.

"These two are going to help you on your mission." She gestured to Sai and the other man. "Their names are Sai and Yamato-taichou. I give you three days to find Sasuke if you want to join the competition. After that, you cannot join the competition until next year."

Sakura walked next to Naruto and asked, "Why three days?"

"Because everyone else in Konoha is leaving in three days. And if you manage to find Sasuke within three days it will be clear that you two are more than capable enough to join the competition. Plus the MOA staff would never let Orochimaru enter the exam grounds."

"So even if we can't kill Orochimaru…," Naruto started.

"You can still join the competition if you make it back here in three days," Tsunade finished. "Tell my old friend I said hello."

Tsunade gave Naruto and Sakura the once over and smiled before walking away. "I have duties to attend to," she said. "And whatever you do," she stopped walking, "don't you _dare_ die." With that, she was gone second later.

"Well I guess I'm your team captain, guys," Yamato said. Sai smiled… or at least he tried. It was kinda creepy.

"Your smile is creepy," Naruto blatantly said.

"Naruto!" Sakura smacked the back of his head.

"Ouch! That's mean! I was just telling the truth."

"Well maybe you should _think_ before you talk!" she said through clenched teeth.

"I do think before I talk! And you look creepy, too," Naruto pointed at Yamato.

"My point exactly!" Sakura slapped her forehead at her idiot teammate.

The two began to argue while Sai watched with his creepy smile still in place and Yamato growing increasingly impatient.

"You two!" Yamato yelled with a flashlight in his hand shining at his face. "Stop arguing or else I will show you something that is creepier than Orochimaru can ever hope to be," he said deeply.

Naruto and Sakura stopped arguing and audibly gulped. "S-Sorry Yamato-taicho!" They said instantaneously and Yamato chuckled at his scare tactics.

Naruto sighed.

The trip to find Orochimaru was going to be worse than the actual rescuing part.


End file.
